avarice

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av·a·rice

(ăv′ə-rĭs)

Immoderate desire for wealth; cupidity.

[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin avāritia, from avārus, greedy, from avēre, to desire.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

avarice

(ˈævərɪs)

extreme greed for riches; cupidity

[C13: from Old French, from Latin avaritia, from avārus covetous, from avēre to crave]

ˌavaˈricious adj

ˌavaˈriciously adv

ˌavaˈriciousness n

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

av•a•rice

(ˈæv ər ɪs)

n.

insatiable greed for riches; inordinate, miserly desire to gain and hoard wealth.

[1250–1300; Middle English < Old French < Latin avāritia=avār(us) greedy + -itia -ice]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun	1.	avarice - reprehensible acquisitiveness; insatiable desire for wealth (personified as one of the deadly sins) avaritia, greed, rapacity, covetousness deadly sin, mortal sin - an unpardonable sin entailing a total loss of grace; "theologians list seven mortal sins"
	2.	avarice - extreme greed for material wealth avariciousness, cupidity, covetousness greed - excessive desire to acquire or possess more (especially more material wealth) than one needs or deserves

avarice

noun greed, meanness, penny-pinching, parsimony, acquisitiveness, rapacity, cupidity, stinginess, covetousness, miserliness, greediness, niggardliness, graspingness, close-fistedness, penuriousness a month's rent - just enough to satisfy the landlord's avarice
generosity, extravagance, benevolence, unselfishness, liberality, bountifulness, largesse or largess

Quotations
"The love of money is the root of all evil" Bible: I Timothy
"avarice, the spur of industry" [David Hume Essays: Moral and Political]

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

avarice

noun

Excessive desire for more than one needs or deserves:

acquisitiveness, avariciousness, avidity, covetousness, cupidity, graspingness, greed.

Informal: grabbiness.

Translations

طَمَع في جَمْع المال

lakomstvíchamtivosthrabivost

griskhed

ahneusrahanhimo

ágirnd, fégræîgi

強欲

gobšumasgobšus

mantrausībaskopums

griskhet

chciwość

avareza avarícia

алчность жадность скупость

hırspara ve zenginlik hırsı

贪婪

avarice

[ˈævərɪs] N → avaricia f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

avarice

[ˈævərɪs] n → avarice f

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

avarice

n → Habgier f, → Habsucht f

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

avarice

[ˈævərɪs] n → avarizia

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

avarice

(ˈӕvəris) noun

strong desire for money etc; greed.

ˌavaˈricious (-ʃəs) adjective

Mentioned in ?

References in classic literature ?

Now the one was full of avarice, and the other eaten up with envy.

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Presently a fox met him: 'What's the matter, my friend?' said he, 'why do you hang down your head and look so lonely and woe-begone?' 'Ah!' replied the horse, 'justice and avarice never dwell in one house; my master has forgotten all that I have done for him so many years, and because I can no longer work he has turned me adrift, and says unless I become stronger than a lion he will not take me back again; what chance can I have of that?

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Of course you know that ambition and avarice are held to be, as indeed they are, a disgrace?

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But I would not believe, and, dazzled by the greed of avarice, I thought that if one eye could show me riches, the other might teach me how to get possession of them.

But, in order to expiate the sin of avarice, which was my undoing, I oblige each passer-by to give me a blow.

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Are not popular assemblies frequently subject to the impulses of rage, resentment, jealousy, avarice, and of other irregular and violent propensities?

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Werper, clawing fearfully during the perilous ascent, sweating in terror, almost palsied by fear, but spurred on by avarice, following upward, until at last he stood upon the summit of the rocky hill.

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Our goods were no sooner landed than we were surrounded with a crowd of officers, all gaping for presents; we were forced to gratify their avarice by opening our bales, and distributing among them some pieces of calico.

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But my fate was otherwise determined; the busy devil that so industriously drew me in had too fast hold of me to let me go back; but as poverty brought me into the mire, so avarice kept me in, till there was no going back.

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That Avarice is an ardent counselor; she carries away her man, as Satan did Jesus, to the mountain, and when once she has shown to an unfortunate all the kingdoms of the earth, she is able to repose herself, knowing full well that she has left her companion, Envy, to gnaw his heart.

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I have always thought love the only foundation of happiness in a married state, as it can only produce that high and tender friendship which should always be the cement of this union; and, in my opinion, all those marriages which are contracted from other motives are greatly criminal; they are a profanation of a most holy ceremony, and generally end in disquiet and misery: for surely we may call it a profanation to convert this most sacred institution into a wicked sacrifice to lust or avarice: and what better can be said of those matches to which men are induced merely by the consideration of a beautiful person, or a great fortune?

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Whether they were always so free from avarice, partialities, or want, that a bribe, or some other sinister view, could have no place among them?