different between unselfish vs avaricious

English

Etymology

un- +? selfish.

Adjective

unselfish (comparative more unselfish, superlative most unselfish)

1. Not selfish

   The man was in an unselfish mood that day, so decided to give a £20 note to the next charity he came across.

   Synonyms: selfless, generous, altruistic

Synonyms

• altruistic
• generous
• selfless

Antonyms

• selfish

Translations

English

Alternative forms

• avaritious (obsolete)
• avaricius (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English avaricious, from Old French avaricieux, from avarice, from Latin avaritia (“greed”), from avarus (“greedy”), of avere (“crave, long for”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?æv??????s/

Adjective

avaricious (comparative more avaricious, superlative most avaricious)

1. Actuated by avarice; extremely greedy for wealth or material gain; immoderately desirous of accumulating property.
   • 1835, Robert Montgomery Bird, The Hawks of Hawk-Hollow

     In a word, he was called a hard, avaricious, rapacious man, whose chief business was to enrich himself...

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:greedy

Derived terms

• avariciously
• avariciousness

Related terms

• avarice

Translations

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “avaricious”, in Online Etymology Dictionary