insatiable

English

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old French insaciable, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Late Latin insatiabilis

Pronunciation

• Received Pronunciation (UK): [ɪnˈseɪʃjəbəl]

Adjective

insatiable (comparative more insatiable, superlative most insatiable)

1. Not satiable; incapable of being satisfied or appeased; very greedy
   • 1843 Thomas Carlyle, Past and Present, book 2, ch. 4, Abbot Hugo

     Hugo, in a fine frenzy, threatens to depose the Sacristan, to do this and do that; but, in the mean while, how to quiet your insatiable Jew? Hugo, for this couple of hundreds, grants the Jew his bond for four hundred payable at the end of four years. (...) Neither yet is this insatiable Jew satisfied or settled with: he had papers against us of 'small debts fourteen years old;' his modest claim amounts finally to 'Twelve hundred pounds besides interest'

   • 1885 — Gilbert & Sullivan, The Mikado [1]

     Such an appointment would realize my fondest dreams. But no, at any sacrifice, I must set bounds to my insatiable ambition!

Usage notes

• Nouns to which "insatiable" is often applied: appetite, desire, curiosity, thirst, hunger, need, greed.

Translations

not satiable; incapable of being satisfied or appeased

• Catalan: insaciable
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 無法滿足的／无法满足的, 无法满足的 (wúfǎ mǎnzú de), 貪得無厭的／贪得无厌的 (zh), 贪得无厌的 (zh) (tāndéwúyàn de), 貪心／贪心 (zh) (tānxīn), 贪心 (zh) (tānxīn)

• Czech: neukojitelný
• Danish: umættelig
• Esperanto: nesatigebla
• Finnish: tyydyttämätön, kyltymätön (fi)
• Galician: insaciable (gl), insaciábel (gl)
• Georgian: გაუმაძღარი (gaumaʒɣari)
• German: unersättlich
• Greek:

  Ancient: ἀκόρεστος (akórestos), ἄπληστος (áplēstos)

• Hungarian: telhetetlen (hu), kielégíthetetlen (hu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: insaziabile (it), incontentabile (it)
• Japanese: 飽くことを知らない (あくことをしらない, akukoto o shiranai)
• Lithuanian: nepasotinamas
• Norwegian: umettelig
• Polish: nienasycony m
• Portuguese: insaciável (pt) m or f
• Russian: ненасы́тный (ru) (nenasýtnyj)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: незаја̀жљив

  Roman: nezajàžljiv (sh)

• Spanish: insaciable (es)
• Swedish: omättlig (sv)
• Ukrainian: ненаситний (nenasytnyj)

Noun

insatiable (plural insatiables)

1. One who or that which cannot be satiated.

Further reading

• “insatiable”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “insatiable”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• banalities

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French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin insatiābilis. Synchronically analysable as in- +‎ satiable.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛ̃.sa.sjabl/

Adjective

insatiable (plural insatiables)

1. insatiable

Further reading

• “insatiable”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

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Middle French

Adjective

insatiable m or f (plural insatiables)

1. insatiable