Avarous

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Having an insatiable craving for wealth and possessions
2. Demonstrating a profound greed that compels the accumulation of material goods
3. Having an extreme and selfish desire to acquire and hoard riches

Etymology: "Avarous" is an older English adjective meaning greedy for wealth, borrowed directly from Latin "avarus," which means the same thing. The Latin word belongs to a family built on "avere," to desire eagerly, so the adjective carries that original sense of intense longing within it. English took the form essentially unchanged, adding only the adjective ending "-ous" that was common in words borrowed from Latin. The word now sits alongside its more familiar relative "avaricious," which entered English through a different route and in the same general period. Both words describe the same vice, so "avarous" survives mainly as a formal, rarely used synonym of the more common term.

Synonyms: greedy, covetous, stingy, miserly, grasping

Antonyms: generous, charitable, magnanimous