satiety

sa•ti•e•ty (suh-TAHY-i-tee)  n

Definition:
1. the state of being satisfactorily full and unable to take on more; fullness; sufficiency
2. the condition of being full or gratified beyond the point of satisfaction; surfeit
3. a glutted or cloyed state or condition; an excess of gratification which excites loathing; gratification to the full or beyond natural desire


Origin:
1533;  from Fr. satiété (12c.), from L. satietatem "abundance," from satis "enough," from PIE base *sa- "to satisfy"

Related:
Synonyms: satiation, engorgement, filling, gratification,  repletion, saturation, slaking, surfeit
Related Words: satisfy, satiate

Sentence Examples:
• It is wonderfully provided by the Creator that any sensation, which is selfishly indulged in, any sensation that a man remains in for its own sake, must lead first to satiety,—and then to worse than satiety and death. -A Man of the World, Annie Payson Call

• "And so you think you've won out against the gods?" he demanded.
"Why the gods?"
"Whose will but theirs has put satiety upon man?" he cried.
"And whence the will in me to escape satiety?" I asked triumphantly.
"Again the gods," he laughed. "It is their game we play. They deal and shuffle all the cards... and take the stakes. Think not that you have escaped by fleeing from the mad cities. You with your vine-clad hills, your sunsets and your sunrises, your homely fare and simple round of living!
-When God Laughs, Jack London

• No wonder that on this fine afternoon in September the crowd round Bibot's gate was eager and excited. The lust of blood grows with its satisfaction, there is no satiety: the crowd had seen a hundred noble heads fall beneath the guillotine to-day, it wanted to make sure that it would see another hundred fall on the morrow.  -The Scarlet Pimpernel, Baroness Orczy

Sources: Wordnik, Online Etymology

Word-E: A Word-A-Day