as in avarice
an intense selfish desire for wealth or possessions
don't let greed for riches control you
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of greed
There’s a lot that feels timely about greed versus governance and myths and propaganda.
—
Stuart Miller,
Oc Register,
17 June 2026
No alliances are revived, and no sense of kinship develops; what happens is motivated by only survival and greed, the implication being that these were always Robin Hood’s incentives—any social redistribution happened merely by accident.
—
David Sims,
The Atlantic,
17 June 2026
Most importantly, Kaiser went on national radio and warned that democracy itself could not survive if America returned to the greed, monopoly and economic cruelty that had scarred the industrial age.
—
Tom Debley,
Mercury News,
16 June 2026
For others, the salary cap proposal demonstrates pure greed from owners who are all fabulously wealthy yet perennially crying poor.
—
David Faris,
TheWeek,
15 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for greed
Stuart Miller,
Oc Register,
17 June 2026
No alliances are revived, and no sense of kinship develops; what happens is motivated by only survival and greed, the implication being that these were always Robin Hood’s incentives—any social redistribution happened merely by accident.
—
David Sims,
The Atlantic,
17 June 2026
Most importantly, Kaiser went on national radio and warned that democracy itself could not survive if America returned to the greed, monopoly and economic cruelty that had scarred the industrial age.
—
Tom Debley,
Mercury News,
16 June 2026
For others, the salary cap proposal demonstrates pure greed from owners who are all fabulously wealthy yet perennially crying poor.
—
David Faris,
TheWeek,
15 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for greed
Recent Examples of Synonyms for greed
Noun
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The theory here is that avarice and ambition can best be defeated by means of somebody else’s avarice and ambition; power’s inevitable corrupting effect is thereby mitigated or delayed.
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And the forces that contributed to their demise — avarice, ignorance and a lack of imagination — are ascendant, illustrated by plans for a five-story Rolex shop on Las Olas and the Gekko district being built in downtown West Palm Beach.
Noun
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People in the comments shared in the woman’s frustration, agreeing that her mother's greediness needs to be addressed.
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When kids didn’t withdraw, it was sometimes seen as greediness.
Noun
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The French—and, later, Anglo (Wilde, Beardsley, Rossetti)—attitude, mannered and morbid, was perhaps too Old World, at odds with our cheerful, Protestant rapacity.
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Unlike the specialized literary magazine and its informal cousin, the literary blog, the general-interest newspaper has a kind of noble rapacity, an encyclopedic ambition to wrap its arms around the whole of the world.
Noun
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Many critics of such wanton cosmic acquisitiveness balk at the idea of scarcely regulated private-sector lunar strip-mining.
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Following too closely in its protagonist’s footsteps, The Queen of Versailles presents only two options — tough but spiritually fulfilling material deprivation or unconstrained acquisitiveness.
Noun
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Most accounts of the era blame greed—a new ethic of cupidity that displaced whatever youthful idealism remained from the 1960s.
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The stories of corporate cupidity and stupidity are perhaps more relevant now with technology discrupting markets.
Noun
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New York City’s fiscal year starts on July 1, Wednesday, and Mayor Mamdani must continue to resist the City Council’s desire to expand CityFHEPS housing vouchers.
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Trump-administration officials have made no secret of their desire to purge the United States of nonwhite immigrants.
Noun
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Simple fasting from food can be ruined — rendered not pleasing to Allah — if spoiled by telling lies, slander, denouncing someone behind his back, swearing a false oath, greed or covetousness.
Noun
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Some laud the nation’s rapaciousness.
Cite this Entry
“Greed.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/greed. Accessed 29 Jun. 2026.
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