What does avarice mean?
Avarice is an intense, insatiable greed for wealth — a consuming hunger to acquire and hoard money or possessions that overrides conscience and consideration for others. The word belongs to a formal register: you are unlikely to hear it in casual chat, but it recurs in literature, journalism, moral philosophy, and political rhetoric whenever writers want to condemn acquisitiveness with force and gravity. Where 'greed' is broad and colloquial, avarice narrows its aim to material riches and carries a sharper moral judgment; calling someone's motive 'avarice' implies not just wanting much, but wanting without end. It appears most often in phrases such as 'driven by avarice' or 'consumed by avarice'. Its adjective form, avaricious, describes the grasping person themselves. Rooted in Latin avaritia, the word has carried this damning sense since antiquity — Dante consigned the avaricious to Hell, and it stands today among the traditional seven deadly sins.
nounExtreme greed for wealth or material gain; an insatiable desire to accumulate riches, often at the expense of others.
- Insatiable greed for wealth or material gain; extreme acquisitiveness, especially when morally condemned.
"His avarice drove him to betray even his oldest friends in pursuit of the inheritance."
"The scandal revealed how corporate avarice had overridden every ethical safeguard the firm once claimed to uphold."
"In Dickens' novels, avarice is rarely punished lightly — Scrooge must confront what his hoarding has cost him before redemption is possible."
Avarice is almost always used as an uncountable mass noun. A plural form exists grammatically and occasionally appears in older or highly literary writing to denote distinct kinds or manifestations of greed, but modern usage overwhelmingly treats it as singular.
"Rare/literary: 'The chronicler catalogued the many avarices of the court.'"
Avarice was so despised in medieval Europe that it earned its own place among the seven deadly sins — and Dante painted hoarders rolling weights at each other in Hell.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of avarice
Avarice derives from the Latin noun avaritia, meaning greed or covetousness, which itself comes from the adjective avidus ('eager, covetous'), related to the verb avere, 'to crave or long for'. The word entered English via Old French avarice during the Middle English period, likely in the fourteenth century. It shares this Latin root with the English words avid and avaricious, all preserving the ancient association between craving and excess.
Related word forms
How avarice is actually used
Avarice is a formal, literary word with strongly negative moral connotations. It typically appears in written prose, criticism, religious or philosophical discussion, and rhetoric denouncing corruption. Unlike 'greed', which can apply loosely to food, power, or anything desired excessively, avarice almost always refers specifically to the accumulation of money or property.
Easily confused with avarice
Greed is a broader everyday term for excessive desire for more than one needs, while avarice specifically denotes insatiable greed for money or material wealth and carries a more formal, literary tone.
Cupidity also means greedy desire for wealth but is rarer and more archaic-sounding, whereas avarice remains the standard formal term.
Avaricious is simply the adjective form of the noun avarice, describing someone who is greedy rather than naming the quality itself.