different between covetous vs niggardly

English

Etymology

From Middle English coveitous, from Anglo-Norman *cuveitus, from Medieval Latin as if *cupiditosus, from Latin cupiditas (“desire”); see covet.

Pronunciation

• enPR: k?v'?t-?s, IPA^(key): /?k?v?t?s/

Adjective

covetous (comparative more covetous, superlative most covetous)

1. Extremely keen or desirous, especially to obtain and possess something belonging to someone else; avaricious.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:greedy

Derived terms

• covetousness
• covetously

Related terms

• covet

Translations

Further reading

• covetous in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• covetous in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

English

Etymology

niggard +? -ly

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?n???dli/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?n???dli/

Adjective

niggardly (comparative more niggardly, superlative most niggardly)

1. Withholding for the sake of meanness; stingy, miserly.

   Synonyms: miserly, stingy; see also Thesaurus:stingy

   • 1609, Joseph Hall, (paraphrasing Ambrose? in) "No Peace with Rome", in Josiah Pratt (editor), The Works of the Right Reverend Father in God, Joseph Hall, D. D., Vol. IX. Polemical Works, London, (1808), page 57:

     [W]here the owner of the house will be bountiful, it is not for the steward to be niggardly.

   • 1919, W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence, chapter 47

     They were not niggardly, these tramps, and he who had money did not hesitate to share it among the rest.

   • 1958, John Kenneth Galbraith, The Affluent Society (1998 edition), ?ISBN, p. 186:

     This manifests itself in an implacable tendency to provide an opulent supply of some things and a niggardly yield of others.

Usage notes

• This term may cause offence, especially in the US, as it is easily confused with niggerly, an adverbial form of the racial slur nigger. The two words are etymologically unrelated.

Translations

Adverb

niggardly (comparative more niggardly, superlative most niggardly)

1. (now rare) In a parsimonious way; sparingly, stingily.
   • , New York 2001, p.105:

     because many families are compelled to live niggardly, exhaust and undone by great dowers, none shall be given at all, or very little […].

Translations

Further reading

• Controversies about the word "niggardly" on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

References