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

The answer may be that animals are greedy: they need a lot of oxygen to grow big and complicated.

From The Daily Beast

Only the greedy say that greed is good and there is no shaming of the shameless.

From The Daily Beast

But this soft and greedy subversive organelle is no match for the brilliance of our scientists!

From The Daily Beast

We must arrest and return their fugitive slaves with greedy pleasure.

From The Daily Beast

The  Silicon Valley tech firms tend to be  every bit as cutthroat and greedy as any capitalist enterprise before it.

From The Daily Beast

The mother played her accompaniments and at the same time watched her daughter with greedy admiration and nervous apprehension.

From Project Gutenberg

Whenever he visited the garden he told everybody that he should never come there again because Grandfather Mole was too greedy.

From Project Gutenberg

Though this may be accounted for by the fact that he was a greedy reader—of any and every thing which came his way.

From Project Gutenberg

Madame Malmaison knew it also, but the hard look on her greedy face did not soften.

From Project Gutenberg

With a mind greedy after all manner of information, he had not omitted to inquire closely into ecclesiastical matters.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• eager
• hungry
• impatient
• rapacious
• selfish