greedy

[ gree-dee ]

adjective

, greed·i·er, greed·i·est.

1. excessively or inordinately desirous of wealth, profit, etc.:

   The greedy owners of the company paid their employees too little and charged their customers too much.

   Synonyms: selfish, rapacious, grasping

   Antonyms: unselfish, generous

2. having an excessive desire for food or drink:

   That greedy guy ate four of those brownies before anyone else got any!

   Synonyms: insatiable, gluttonous, voracious, ravenous

3. keenly desirous; eager (often followed by of or for ):

   greedy for praise.

   Synonyms: covetous, anxious

4. requiring or using much of a specified thing (often used in combination):

   These big trucks are fuel-greedy.

   Crops that are greedy for water should not be planted in dry regions.

5. Computers.
   1. of or relating to an algorithm, search, etc., that operates one step at a time instead of checking all possible paths or solutions all at once and then selecting the one with the best overall outcome:

      A result may be achieved faster with a greedy search, but that result is not always the correct or best one.

   2. of or relating to an operator or quantifier in a search query that will return the largest match result possible. Compare lazy ( def 4 ).

greedy

/ ˈɡriːdɪ /

adjective

1. excessively desirous of food or wealth, esp in large amounts; voracious
2. postpositivefoll byfor eager (for)

   a man greedy for success

Derived Forms

• ˈgreediness, noun
• ˈgreedily, adverb

Other Words From

• greed·i·ly adverb
• greed·i·ness noun
• non·greed·y adjective
• o·ver·greed·i·ly adverb
• o·ver·greed·i·ness noun
• o·ver·greed·y adjective
• un·greed·y adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of greedy¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English gredy, Old English grædig; cognate with Old Norse grāthugr, Gothic gredags

Word History and Origins

Origin of greedy¹

Old English grǣdig; related to Old Norse grāthugr, Gothic grēdags hungry, Old High German grātac

Synonym Study

See avaricious, greed.

Example Sentences

Safety Kamari Ramsey and cornerbacks Jacobe Covington, Greedy Vance and Jaylin Smith all missed last week with undisclosed injuries and none of the four were full participants at practice as of Tuesday.

From Los Angeles Times

Greedy Vance Jr. may not look, on paper, like he would be the answer to USC’s pass rushing problems.

From Los Angeles Times

Truth Ofori, who was part of Black Sherif's set, then sang a patriotic song called “This is our home”, while Stonebowy used his set to perform "Greedy Men", which targeted those behind galamsey.

From BBC

It’s a fetid, ugly place filled with nazis, racists, greedy venture capitalists, grifters, drifters, father stabbers, P Diddy lovers, mother rapers and father rapers, as Arlo Guthrie sang, sitting right there on the Group W bench.

From Salon

“I’m real over anything kind of dour and greedy,” Gonzo said.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• eager
• hungry
• impatient
• rapacious
• selfish