Luxurie

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Unrestrained sensual indulgence, especially lust or lechery ; lavish, costly living surrounded by sumptuous comforts and fine things
2. Excessive pleasure-seeking and sexual appetite ; the enjoyment of rich, expensive surroundings and opulent, extravagant comforts
3. Self-indulgent desire for physical pleasure, particularly lechery ; sumptuous, expensive living marked by splendour and abundant comfort

Etymology: Middle English "luxurie" is the spelling that later became "luxury," and it did not start out meaning expensive comfort at all. It came into English from Old French "luxurie," which descended from Latin "luxuria," meaning rankness, excess or overgrowth, as with plants that grow too thickly. The sense of unrestrained indulgence was there from the start, and it was the moral sense that dominated: in medieval English, "luxurie" usually meant sinful self-indulgence, and in theological writing it was one of the deadly sins, closely tied to lust. Over time the word lost its moral sting and gained a material one. Its meaning drifted from wanton excess toward pleasures of the body and then toward costly goods and refined surroundings, the sense of lavish costly living it carries today. The shift from sin to status is what makes the word's history stand out.

Synonyms: opulence, extravagance, lavishness, splendor, indulgence

Antonyms: austerity, frugality, asceticism, poverty, simplicity