different between cupidity vs greed

English

Etymology

From French cupidité, from Latin cupidit?s (“strong desire”), from cupidus (“keen, desirous”). Compare Cupid.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /kju??p?d?ti/

Noun

cupidity (countable and uncountable, plural cupidities)

1. Extreme greed, especially for wealth.
   • 1857, Anthony Trollope, Barchester Towers, Volume the First, page 11 ?ISBN

     His affairs, however, were not allowed to subside thus quietly, and people were quite as much inclined to talk about the disinterested sacrifice he had made, as they had before been to upbraid him for his cupidity.

   • 1982, Lawrence Durrell, Constance, Faber & Faber 2004 (Avignon Quintet), p. 784:

     It was easy to dissimulate and disperse these modest purchases in such a way as not to excite the cupidity of any passing patrols.

Synonyms

• (extreme greed): avarice, covetousness; see also Thesaurus:greed

Related terms

• cupid

Translations

Anagrams

• pudicity

English

Etymology

C. 1600. Back-formation from greedy.

Pronunciation

• enPR: gr?d, IPA^(key): /??id/
• Rhymes: -i?d

Noun

greed (countable and uncountable, plural greeds)

1. A selfish or excessive desire for more than is needed or deserved, especially of money, wealth, food, or other possessions.

   Synonyms: avarice, covetousness, greediness, rapacity, gluttony; see also Thesaurus:greed

   • 1885, Richard F. Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Night 564:

     […] 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."

Derived terms

• greedily
• greediness
• greedy

Translations

Verb

greed (third-person singular simple present greeds, present participle greeding, simple past and past participle greeded)

1. To desire in a greedy manner, or to act on such a desire.

Further reading

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

References

Anagrams

• degre, dereg, edger, erged, redge