avarice

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[edit] English

[edit] Etymology

From Old French, from Latin avāritia, from avārus (greedy).

[edit] Pronunciation

[edit] Noun

Singular
avarice

Plural
uncountable

avarice (uncountable)

  1. Excessive or inordinate desire of gain; greediness after wealth; covetousness; cupidity.
  2. Inordinate desire for some supposed good.

[edit] Quotations

excessive desire of gain from wealth
1606 1726 1776 1860 2006
ME: [[{{{enm}}}]] « 15th c. 16th c. 17th c. 18th c. 19th c. 20th c. 21st c.
  • 1606 - Shakespeare, Macbeth iv 3
    With this there grows,
    In my most ill-compos'd affection, such
    A stanchless avarice, that, were I king,
    I should cut off the nobles for their lands.
  • 1726 - Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels Part II, ch. vi
    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?
  • 1776 - Thomas Paine, Common Sense
    Oppression is often the consequence, but seldom or never the means of riches; and though avarice will preserve a man from being necessitously poor, it generally makes him too timorous to be wealthy.
  • 1860, John Ruskin, Unto This Last, Cornhill Magazine
    "The social affections," says the economist, "are accidental and disturbing elements in human nature; but avarice and the desire of progress are constant elements. Let us eliminate the inconstants, and, considering the human being merely as a covetous machine, examine by what laws of labour, purchase, and sale, the greatest accumulative result in wealth is obtainable..."
  • 2006 - Square-Enix, Kingdom Hearts II Episode 2 of Port Royal ("Pirates of the Caribbean world")
    The Darkness of men's hearts, drawn to these cursed medallions; and this Heartless, a veritable maelstrom of avarice. I wonder, are they worthy to serve Organization XIII?

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[edit] French

[edit] Etymology

From Latin avaritia

[edit] Pronunciation

[edit] Noun

avarice f. (plural avarices)

  1. greed; avarice

[edit] Related terms