Dictionary

cupidity en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (UK) audio
• /kjuːˈpɪdəti/ (UK)

Etymology

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

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) Extreme greed, especially for wealth.
   • 1970 C.S. Lewis in God in the Dock The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.
   • It was easy to dissimulate and disperse these modest purchases in such a way as not to excite the cupidity of any passing patrols. 1982, Lawrence Durrell, Constance, Faber & Faber 2004 (Avignon Quintet), p. 784
   • Now Jonah’s Captain, shipmates, was one whose discernment detects crime in any, but whose cupidity exposes it only in the penniless. 1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chapter 9:
   • A bargain is a social evil; one man's loss, tempting another man's cupidity. 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “A Late Breakfast”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 71:
   • 2014 King Eckbert in "Answers in Blood" s2e5 of Vikings Woman, I find it unlawful and disagreeable that your husband should make false claims against you. He has provided no evidence of your cupidity. Therefore, I dismiss his demand to have you branded in public.
   • “I have tried, as I hinted, to enlist the co-operation of other capitalists, but experience has taught me that any appeal is futile that does not impinge directly upon cupidity. …” 1913, Robert Barr, chapter 4, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad:
   • 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. 1857, Anthony Trollope, Barchester Towers, Volume the First, →ISBN, page 11:
   • To previous resentment of the wide acceptance socially of [George] Hudson was added the venom of those whose cupidity had led them astray. 1960 March 14, N. Caplan, “A Railway Member of Parliament”, in Railway Magazine, page 207:
   • Humanity had always been fascinated by the mystery of the falling dice, the turn of a card, the spin of the pointer. At its lowest level, this interest was based on mere cupidity—and that was an emotion that could have no place in a world where everyone possessed all that they could reasonably need. 1956, Arthur C. Clarke, The City and the Stars, page 37:

Forms

Relateds

cupid

Synonyms

avarice (extreme greed) · covetousness

Translations (26)

de Habgier (extreme greed, especially for wealth) · ru жа́дность (extreme greed, especially for wealth) · es codicia (extreme greed, especially for wealth) · it cupidità (extreme greed, especially for wealth) · gd sannt (extreme greed, especially for wealth) · hu pénzéhesség (extreme greed, especially for wealth) · hi लोभ (extreme greed, especially for wealth) · cs chamtivost (extreme greed, especially for wealth) · hu kapzsiság (extreme greed, especially for wealth) · io ganemeso (extreme greed, especially for wealth) · ro cupiditate (extreme greed, especially for wealth) · sh alavost (extreme greed, especially for wealth) · io pekuniavideso (extreme greed, especially for wealth) · bg алчност (extreme greed, especially for wealth) · hi लालच (extreme greed, especially for wealth) · mk алчност (extreme greed, especially for wealth) · ru корыстолю́бие (extreme greed, especially for wealth) · it cupidigia (extreme greed, especially for wealth) · hu pénzéhség (extreme greed, especially for wealth) · ru а́лчность (extreme greed, especially for wealth) · hy ագահություն (extreme greed, especially for wealth) · sh pohlepa (extreme greed, especially for wealth) · sh алавост (extreme greed, especially for wealth) · sh похлепа (extreme greed, especially for wealth) · hy ընչաքաղցություն (extreme greed, especially for wealth) · mk лакомост (extreme greed, especially for wealth)