avaricious

[ av-uh-rish-uhs ]

adjective

1. characterized by avarice; greedy; covetous.

Other Words From

• ava·ricious·ly adverb
• ava·ricious·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of avaricious¹

late Middle English word dating back to 1425–75; avarice, -ious

Synonym Study

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.