cupidity

Definition

Extreme greed, especially for wealth.

Etymology

From French cupidité, from Latin cupiditās (“strong desire”), from cupidus (“keen, desirous”). Compare Cupid.

Example Sentences

• "A bargain is a social evil; one man's loss, tempting another man's cupidity."
• "Now Jonah’s Captain, shipmates, was one whose discernment detects crime in any, but whose cupidity exposes it only in the penniless."
• "His affairs, however, were not allowed to subside thus quietly, and people were quite as much inclined to talk about the disinterested sacrifice he had made, as they had before been to upbraid him for his cupidity."

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