What is an avaricious person?
The suggestion is that an avaricious person will do anything to achieve material gain, and it is, in general, not a pleasant attribute. The Latin verb avēre, meaning "to crave" provides the groundwork for the word avaricious and its definition as "greedy or covetous.".
What is the meaning of the word avarice?
Full of avarice; greedy for riches. Actuated by avarice; extremely greedy for wealth or material gain; immoderately desirous of accumulating property. From Old French avaricieux, from avarice, from Latin avaritia (“greed”), from avarus (“greedy”), of avere (“crave, long for”).
What is the difference between avaricious and acquisitive?
While all these words mean "having or showing a strong desire for especially material possessions," avaricious implies obsessive acquisitiveness especially of money and strongly suggests stinginess. When is it sensible to use acquisitive instead of avaricious?
What does av'a·ri′cious·Ness mean?
av′a·ri′cious·ness n. 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. characterized by avarice; greedy; covetous. av`a•ri′cious•ness, n.
What is a avaricious person?
covetous, greedy, acquisitive, grasping, avaricious mean having or showing a strong desire for especially material possessions. covetous implies inordinate desire often for another's possessions.
What is the difference between greed and avarice?
Avarice is a more formal than greed. It suggests a desire to accumulate more and more wealth; and also to hold on to what one has accumulated, hence also suggesting miserliness. It is almost always associated with money and possessions and is not used for food.
What is the synonyms of avaricious?
Some common synonyms of avaricious are acquisitive, covetous, grasping, and greedy. While all these words mean "having or showing a strong desire for especially material possessions," avaricious implies obsessive acquisitiveness especially of money and strongly suggests stinginess.
How do you use avaricious in a sentence?
An avaricious person is very greedy for money or possessions. He sacrificed his own career so that his avaricious brother could succeed.
What is avarice and prodigality?
People who are guilty of avarice are very greedy. They are only interested in gaining more and more money and saving their money. People who are prodigal can not control their need to spend money and have wasted their money away foolishly.
What is an example of avarice?
Excessive or inordinate desire of gain; greediness after wealth; covetousness; cupidity. Inordinate desire for some supposed good. The definition of avarice means greed or a great a desire to be rich. An example of avarice is deciding which college degree to get and which job to take based only on the expected salary.
What does avarice mean in the Bible?
excessive or insatiable desire for wealth or gainDefinition of avarice : excessive or insatiable desire for wealth or gain : greediness, cupidity.
What do you call a person who always talks about money?
avaricious Add to list Share. Someone who is avaricious is greedy or grasping, concerned with gaining wealth.
What do you call a person who has everything?
hoarder Add to list Share. Someone with a tendency to save everything, accumulating more and more, is a hoarder.
What is a word for someone who is greedy?
Some common synonyms of greedy are acquisitive, avaricious, covetous, and grasping. While all these words mean "having or showing a strong desire for especially material possessions," greedy stresses lack of restraint and often of discrimination in desire.
What is a denouncing?
1. To condemn openly as being wrong or reprehensible. See Synonyms at criticize. 2. To inform against (someone); accuse publicly.
What is an astute person?
: having or showing shrewdness and an ability to notice and understand things clearly : mentally sharp or clever an astute observer astute remarks also : crafty, wily.
How does the adjective 'avaricious' differ from other similar words?
Some common synonyms of avaricious are acquisitive, covetous, grasping, and greedy. While all these words mean "having or showing a strong desire f...
When is it sensible to use 'acquisitive' instead of 'avaricious'?
Although the words acquisitive and avaricious have much in common, acquisitive implies both eagerness to possess and ability to acquire and keep. /...
In what contexts can 'covetous' take the place of 'avaricious'?
The words covetous and avaricious can be used in similar contexts, but covetous implies inordinate desire often for another's possessions. // covet...
How does the word 'grasping' relate to other synonyms for 'avaricious'?
Grasping adds to covetous and greedy an implication of selfishness and often suggests unfair or ruthless means. // a hard grasping businesswoman wh...
When might 'greedy' be a better fit than 'avaricious'?
The meanings of greedy and avaricious largely overlap; however, greedy stresses lack of restraint and often of discrimination in desire. // greedy...
What is the difference between avaricious and covetous?
Avaricious, covetous, greedy, rapacious share the sense of desiring to possess more of something than one already has or might in normal circumstances be entitled to. Avaricious often implies a pathological, driven greediness for money or other valuables and usually suggests a concomitant miserliness: the cheerless dwelling of an avaricious usurer. Covetous implies a powerful and usually illicit desire for the property or possessions of another: The book collector was openly covetous of my rare first edition. Greedy, the most general of these terms, suggests a naked and uncontrolled desire for almost anything—food and drink, money, emotional gratification: embarrassingly greedy for praise. Rapacious, stronger and more assertive than the other terms, implies an aggressive, predatory, insatiable, and unprincipled desire for possessions and power: a rapacious frequenter of tax sales and forced auctions.
Was the old man avaricious?
Though good and worthy in his way, the old man was avaricious, and possessed an enormous amount of family pride. Strictly reared by a mother gentle and devout, and by a father hard and avaricious. He had the reputation of being an avaricious man; but she was beginning to think he was probably poorer than people knew.
How does the adjective avaricious differ from other similar words?
Some common synonyms of avaricious are acquisitive, covetous, grasping, and greedy. While all these words mean "having or showing a strong desire for especially material possessions," avaricious implies obsessive acquisitiveness especially of money and strongly suggests stinginess.
When is it sensible to use acquisitive instead of avaricious?
Although the words acquisitive and avaricious have much in common, acquisitive implies both eagerness to possess and ability to acquire and keep.
In what contexts can covetous take the place of avaricious?
The words covetous and avaricious can be used in similar contexts, but covetous implies inordinate desire often for another's possessions.
How does the word grasping relate to other synonyms for avaricious?
Grasping adds to covetous and greedy an implication of selfishness and often suggests unfair or ruthless means.
When might greedy be a better fit than avaricious?
The meanings of greedy and avaricious largely overlap; however, greedy stresses lack of restraint and often of discrimination in desire.
What does it mean to be avaricious?
avaricious. Someone who is avaricious is greedy or grasping, concerned with gaining wealth. The suggestion is that an avaricious person will do anything to achieve material gain, and it is, in general, not a pleasant attribute. The Latin verb avēre, meaning "to crave" provides the groundwork for the word avaricious and its definition as "greedy ...
What does the Latin word "avaricious" mean?
The Latin verb avēre, meaning "to crave" provides the groundwork for the word avaricious and its definition as "greedy or covetous.". The adjective is applied to anyone who "craves" great wealth, and suggests that desire for personal gain is an overriding influence in the avaricious person's life.
What does "avaricious" mean?
The definition of avaricious is greedy and money-hungry. An example or avaricious is someone who charges his friends extra money when paying for a meal. adjective. 4. 1. Immoderately desirous of wealth or gain; greedy. adjective.
Was Ibn Batuta avaricious?
He promoted navigation and commerce, but was avaricious and deceitful. I have been no avaricious oppressor of the people. Ibn Batuta saw him when he visited India, and says that he was very avaricious.
avaricious in American English
Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 4th Edition. Copyright © 2010 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.
avaricious in American English
Most material © 2005, 1997, 1991 by Penguin Random House LLC. Modified entries © 2019 by Penguin Random House LLC and HarperCollins Publishers Ltd