Avarice

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Avarice \Av"a*rice\ ([a^]v"[.a]*r[i^]s), n. [F. avaritia, fr.
     avarus avaricious, prob. fr. av[=e]re to covet, fr. a root av
     to satiate one's self: cf. Gr. 'a`menai, 'a^sai, to satiate,
     Skr. av to satiate one's self, rejoice, protect.]
     1. An excessive or inordinate desire of gain; greediness for
        wealth; covetousness; cupidity.


        [1913 Webster]
  
              To desire money for its own sake, and in order to
              hoard it up, is avarice.              --Beattie.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. An inordinate desire for some supposed good.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              All are taught an avarice of praise.  --Goldsmith.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  avarice
       n 1: reprehensible acquisitiveness; insatiable desire for wealth
            (personified as one of the deadly sins) [syn: {greed}, {covetousness},
             {rapacity}, {avaritia}]
       2: extreme greed for material wealth [syn: {avariciousness}, {covetousness},
           {cupidity}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  68 Moby Thesaurus words for "avarice":
     acedia, acquisitiveness, anger, avariciousness, avaritia, avidity,
     avidness, cheapness, closefistedness, closeness, covetousness,
     craving, cupidity, deadly sin, desire, envy, frenzy of desire,
     frugality, fury of desire, gluttony, grasping, graspingness, greed,
     greediness, gula, hardfistedness, hoarding, hoggishness,
     illiberality, incontinence, inordinate desire, insatiability,
     insatiable desire, intemperateness, invidia, ira, itching palm,
     lust, luxuria, meanness, miserliness, nearness, niggardliness,
     overgreediness, parsimoniousness, parsimony, penny-pinching,
     penuriousness, piggishness, pride, rapaciousness, rapacity,
     ravenousness, selfishness, sloth, sordidness, stinginess, superbia,
     swinishness, thrift, tight purse strings, tightfistedness,
     tightness, ungenerosity, voraciousness, voracity, wolfishness,
     wrath