Covetousness

3 definitions found

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

  Covetousness \Cov"et*ous*ness\, n.
     1. Strong desire. [R.]
        [1913 Webster]
  
              When workmen strive to do better than well,
              They do confound their skill in covetousness.


                                                    --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. A strong or inordinate desire of obtaining and possessing
        some supposed good; excessive desire for riches or money;
        -- in a bad sense.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Covetousness, by a greed of getting more, deprivess
              itself of the true end of getting.    --Sprat.
  
     Syn: Avarice; cupidity; eagerness.
          [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

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

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  Covetousness
     a strong desire after the possession of worldly things (Col.
     3:5; Eph. 5:5; Heb. 13:5; 1 Tim. 6:9, 10; Matt. 6:20). It
     assumes sometimes the more aggravated form of avarice, which is
     the mark of cold-hearted worldliness.