Luxuria

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Characterized by excessive indulgence in luxury or sensual pleasure, often implying a lack of self-restraint
2. Describing a state or behavior that embodies opulence and hedonism, typically associated with moral excess
3. Referring to an extravagant lifestyle or appetite for the finer things, leading to an overabundance of enjoyment and desire

Etymology: Latin "luxuria" meant rankness and excess before it meant anything refined. The noun comes from "luxus," which described things growing lush or sprawling out of shape, as in a vine running wild, and "luxuria" carried that same sense of overgrowth. Roman writers applied it to moral excess, so it came to name indulgence and self-indulgence, a sense that stayed with it for centuries. In English, "luxury" is the descendant, and its moral edge did not disappear. The word's associations with overindulgence still shadow its more pleasant senses, which is why the modern noun can describe both a silk pillow and a sinful appetite. The Latin form itself survives in English mainly as a Latinate term for lust and excess, reflecting how the Church and medieval writers used it as one of the deadly sins.

Synonyms: luxury, extravagance, opulence, decadence, excess

Antonyms: frugality, moderation, austerity, simplicity, restraint