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/ˈævərɪs/
🇺🇸
/ˈævərɪs/
🇬🇧
/ˈævəraɪs/
🇬🇧
/ˈævəraɪs/
Plural
avarices
Avarice is an excessive, obsessive desire for wealth or material gain — not just wanting more money, but hoarding it, sacrificing ethics or relationships for it, and never feeling satisfied. Think of Scrooge counting coins while ignoring his nephew's Christmas invitation.
His downfall was caused not by incompetence, but by sheer avarice.
Medieval sermons often warned that avarice was one of the seven deadly sins.
The corrupt official's avarice led him to embezzle millions from public funds.
She rejected the lucrative deal, declaring she wouldn't let avarice compromise her principles.
Literature frequently portrays avarice as a tragic flaw that isolates characters from humanity.
avarius
Comes from the Latin adjective 'avarius', meaning 'greedy' or 'covetous', itself derived from 'avus' (grandfather) via an older root *au-/*aw- related to 'desire' or 'longing' in Proto-Indo-European; however, the dominant scholarly view traces 'avarice' directly to Latin 'avāritia', from 'avārus' ('greedy'), whose root is 'avēre' (to desire eagerly, to crave). Examples include avarice, avaricious, invidia (envy, cognate in semantic field), and related terms like cupidity (from Latin 'cupere'). Core meaning: intense, selfish desire for wealth or gain.