alacrity

Noun

alacrity (countable and uncountable, plural alacrities)

1. Eagerness; liveliness; enthusiasm.
   • Besides, a wealthy man, well at ease, may pray to God quietly and merrily with alacrity and great quietness of mind, whereas he who lieth groaning in his grief cannot endure to pray nor can he hardly think upon anything but his pain.1553 (posth.), Thomas More, A Dialogue of Comfort against Tribulation, Book I, Chapter 19
   • I have not that alacrity of spirit / Nor cheer of mind that I was wont to have.c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...

   Synonyms:

   avidity, eagerness, enthusiasm, willingness

   Antonyms:

   apathy, disinclination, hesitance, indifference, reluctance

2. Promptness; speed.
   • Governments show thus how successfully men can be imposed on, even impose on themselves, for their own advantage. […] Yet this government never of itself furthered any enterprise, but by the alacrity with which it got out of its way.1848 (date delivered; published 1849), Henry D[avid] Thoreau, “[Anti-Slavery and Reform Papers.] Civil Disobedience.”, in A Yankee in Canada, with Anti-Slavery and Reform Papers, Boston, Mass....
   • He had a uniform jacket with one button off, and seeing a white man on the path, hoisted his weapon to his shoulder with alacrity.1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 205...

   Synonyms:

   briskness, celerity, haste, promptness, quickness, swiftness