11/16/2008 found through Curious words and phrases

velleity : a mild desire, a wish or urge too mild to lead to action

After plunging both hands into the carcass of the beached whale, Doctor Floss found himself with an itchy nose, a condition that worsened as the urge to scratch blossomed from mere velleity to a maddening compulsion the longer he continued the necropsy.