covetous

• POS: Adjective
• HYPHEN: cov=et=ous

CIDE DICTIONARY

covetous, a. [OF. coveitos, F. convoiteux. See Covet, v. t.].

•  Very desirous; eager to obtain; -- used in a good sense.  [1913 Webster]

  "Covetous of wisdom and fair virtue."  [1913 Webster]

  "Covetous death bereaved us all,
  To aggrandize one funeral."  [1913 Webster]
•  Inordinately desirous; excessively eager to obtain and possess (esp. money); avaricious; -- in a bad sense.  [1913 Webster]

  "The covetous person lives as if the world were madealtogether for him, and not he for the world."

Syn. -- Avaricious; parsimonious; penurious; misrely; niggardly. See Avaricious.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

covetous, adj. (usu. foll. by of)
1 greatly desirous (esp. of another person's property).
2 grasping, avaricious.

Derivative

covetously adv. covetousness n.

Etymology

ME f. OF coveitous f. Gallo-Roman

THESAURUS

covetous

acquisitive, assembly, avid, band, bevy, bunch, cluster, covey, crew, desirous, eager, envious, esurient, gluttonous, grabby, grasping, greedy, grudging, hoggish, itchy, jealous, keen, lickerish, party, piggish, prehensile, rapacious, ravenous, selfish, swinish, voracious

ROGET THESAURUS

covetous

Greed

N greed, covetousness, ravenousness, venality, avidity, cupidity, acquisitiveness (acquisition), desire, greed, greediness, avarice, avidity, rapacity, extortion, selfishness, auri sacra fames, grasping, craving, canine appetite, rapacity, greedy, avaricious, covetous, acquisitive, grasping, rapacious, lickerish, greedy as a hog, overeager, voracious, ravenous, ravenous as a wolf, openmouthed, extortionate, exacting, sordid, alieni appetens, insatiable, insatiate, unquenchable, quenchless, omnivorous.

Parsimony

N parsimony, parcity, parsimoniousness, stinginess, stint, illiberality, tenacity, avarice, greed, miser, niggard, churl, screw, skinflint, crib, codger, muckworm, scrimp, lickpenny, hunks, curmudgeon, Harpagon, harpy, extortioner, Jew, usurer, Hessian, pinch fist, pinch penny, parsimonious, penurious, stingy, miserly, mean, shabby, peddling, scrubby, penny wise, near, niggardly, close, fast handed, close handed, strait handed, close fisted, hard fisted, tight fisted, tight, sparing, chary, grudging, griping, illiberal, ungenerous, churlish, hidebound, sordid, mercenary, venal, covetous, usurious, avaricious, greedy, extortionate, rapacious, with a sparing hand, desunt inopioe multa avaritiae omnia, hoards after hoards his rising raptures fill, the unsunn'd heaps of miser's treasures.

Envy

N envy, enviousness, rivalry, jalousie de milier, illwill, spite, envious, invidious, covetous, alieni appetens, base envy withers at another's joy, caeca invidia est, multa petentibus desunt multa, summa petit livor.

Selfishness

N selfishness, self-love, self-indulgence, self-worship, self-interest, egotism, egoism, amour propre, nepotism, worldliness, world wisdom, illiberality, meanness, time-pleaser, time-server, tuft- hunter, fortune-hunter, jobber, worldling, egotist, egoist, monopolist, nepotist, dog in the manger, charity that begins at home, canis in praesepi, foes to nobleness, temporizer, trimmer, selfish, self-seeking, self-indulgent, self-interested, self- centered, wrapped up in self, wrapt up in self, centered in self, egotistic, egotistical, egoistical, illiberal, mean, ungenerous, narrow-minded, mercenary, venal, covetous, unspiritual, earthly, earthly-minded, mundane, worldly, worldly- minded, worldly-wise, timeserving, interested, alieni appetens sui profusus, ungenerously, to gain some private ends, from interested motives, apres nous le deluge.