Definition: avaricious

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Source: WordNet (r) 1.7 

avaricious
     adj : immoderately desirous of acquiring e.g. wealth; "they are
           avaricious and will do anything for money"; "casting
           covetous eyes on his neighbor's fields"; "a grasping
           old miser"; "grasping commercialism"; "greedy for money
           and power"; "grew richer and greedier"; "prehensile
           employers stingy with raises for their employees" [syn:
            covetous, grabby, grasping, greedy, prehensile]

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) 

Avaricious \Av`a*ri"cious\, a. [Cf. F. avaricieux.]
   Actuated by avarice; greedy of gain; immoderately desirous of
   accumulating property.

   Syn: Greedy; stingy; rapacious; griping; sordid; close.

   Usage: Avaricious, Covetous, Parsimonious, Penurious,
          Miserly, Niggardly. The avaricious eagerly grasp
          after it at the expense of others, though not of
          necessity with a design to save, since a man may be
          covetous and yet a spendthrift. The penurious,
          parsimonious, and miserly save money by disgraceful
          self-denial, and the niggardly by meanness in their
          dealing with others. We speak of persons as covetous
          in getting, avaricious in retaining, parsimonious in
          expending, penurious or miserly in modes of living,
          niggardly in dispensing. -- Av`a*ri"cious*ly, adv.
          -- Av`a*ri"cious*ness, n.