Meaning & use
avarice
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Meaning
noununcountableformalliterarydisapproving
A strong and ongoing desire to gain money or possessions, far beyond what a person needs.
Grammar: Used without a: driven by avarice. It names a character fault.
Patterns
- driven by avarice
- avarice for something
The merchant's avarice led him to cheat his own partners.
Avarice kept the miser awake counting coins.
The novel shows how avarice can destroy a family.
Common combinations
- driven by avarice
- He was driven by avarice, not need.
- sheer avarice
- The scheme was born of sheer avarice.
- corporate avarice
- Critics blamed corporate avarice for the layoffs.
- avarice and pride
- The story warns against avarice and pride.
- motivated by avarice
- The heirs were motivated by avarice.
Synonyms and how they differ
- greed
- Greed is the common everyday word, while avarice is more formal and stresses a miser's love of hoarding wealth.
- cupidity
- Cupidity is even more formal and literary, and focuses on eager longing for riches.
- covetousness
- Covetousness is wanting what belongs to others, while avarice is wanting wealth in general.
- miserliness
- Miserliness is about refusing to spend money, whereas avarice is about craving more of it.
Opposites
Word family
- avaricious adjective
- extremely greedy for wealth
- avariciously adverb
- in a greedy, money-hungry way
- avariciousness noun
- the quality of being avaricious
Commonly confused: avarice or avarice? avarice or ambrosia?
avarice vs avarice
Not to be mixed with averse or avert; those relate to turning away, not greed.
avarice vs ambrosia
Ambrosia is food of the gods; it only shares the opening letters.
Practice
The king's ___ made him tax his people far beyond what he needed.
Choose one answer.
Avarice means extreme greed for wealth, which explains over-taxing. The other three are positive qualities that would not cause this.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “avarice”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.