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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Avarice \Av"a*rice\ ([a^]v"[.a]*r[i^]s), noun [F. avaritia, fr. avarus avaricious, prob. fr. av[=e]re to covet, fr. a root av to satiate one's self: cf. Gr. 'a'menai, 'a^sai, to satiate, Skr. av to satiate one's self, rejoice, protect.]
1. An excessive or inordinate desire of gain; greediness for wealth; covetousness; cupidity.
To desire money for its own sake, and in order to hoard it up, is avarice. --Beattie.
2. An inordinate desire for some supposed good.
All are taught an avarice of praise. --Goldsmith.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
avarice
noun
1: reprehensible acquisitiveness; insatiable desire for wealth (personified as one of the deadly sins) [syn: {greed}, {covetousness}, {rapacity}, {avaritia}]
2: extreme greed for material wealth [syn: {avariciousness}, {covetousness}, {cupidity}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
68 Moby Thesaurus words for "avarice": acedia, acquisitiveness, anger, avariciousness, avaritia, avidity, avidness, cheapness, closefistedness, closeness, covetousness, craving, cupidity, deadly sin, desire, envy, frenzy of desire, frugality, fury of desire, gluttony, grasping, graspingness, greed, greediness, gula, hardfistedness, hoarding, hoggishness, illiberality, incontinence, inordinate desire, insatiability, insatiable desire, intemperateness, invidia, ira, itching palm, lust, luxuria, meanness, miserliness, nearness, niggardliness, overgreediness, parsimoniousness, parsimony, penny-pinching, penuriousness, piggishness, pride, rapaciousness, rapacity, ravenousness, selfishness, sloth, sordidness, stinginess, superbia, swinishness, thrift, tight purse strings, tightfistedness, tightness, ungenerosity, voraciousness, voracity, wolfishness, wrath
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