Greed Meaning
/ɡɹiːd/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA selfish or excessive desire for more than is needed or deserved, especially of money, wealth, food, or other possessions.
verbTo desire in a greedy manner, or to act on such a desire.
Sentence Examples
Although he had many toys, his greed made him want more.
His greed for power knows no bounds.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
The businessman's ____ for money led him to cheat his customers.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The story is a powerful cautionary tale about how extreme ____ can lead to the downfall of even the most powerful men.
Word Origin & History
c. 1600. Back-formation from greedy.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"[…]But when I had bestridden the plank, quoth I to myself, "Thou deserveth all that betideth thee. All this is decreed to me of Allah (whose name be exalted!), to turn me from my greed of gain, whence ariseth all that I endure, for I have wealth galore.""
— 1885, Richard F. Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Night 564:
"Your market gardener is not a well-breeched man, dependant as he is on the imponderables of glut, the inequities of distribution, and the greeds of wholesaler and retailer."
— 1954, Thomas Firbank, Log Hut, page 194:
"She does not display voracities and greeds like a number of patients […] nor has she shown any significant tendency to possessiveness, grievance, paranoia, or mania."
— 1973, Oliver Sacks, Awakenings:
"The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind."
— 1987, Stanley Weiser, Oliver Stone, Wall Street (motion picture), spoken by Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas):
"The ravens sit greeding, / And watching, and heeding: / Thoro' wind, over water, / Comes scent of the slaughter, / And ravens sit greeding / Their share of the bones."
— 1848, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], chapter XI, in Harold, the Last of the Saxon Kings; […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, book XI (The Norman Schemer, and the Norwegian Sea-king), page 218:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The businessman's ____ for money led him to cheat his customers.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The story is a powerful cautionary tale about how extreme ____ can lead to the downfall of even the most powerful men.