Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.

Definition: Greedy |
GreedyAdjective1. 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". 2. (often followed by `for') ardently or excessively desirous; "avid for adventure"; "an avid ambition to succeed"; "fierce devouring affection"; "the esurient eyes of an avid curiosity"; "greedy for fame". 3. Wanting to eat or drink more than one can reasonably consume; "don't be greedy with the cookies". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "greedy" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1010. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Literature | Greedy (Justice). In A New Way to Pay Old Debts, by Massinger. Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Greed is a desire to obtain more money or material possessions than one is considered to need. A more religious term for greed is avarice, which is listed as one of the Seven Deadly Sins.Greedy individuals are often believed to be harmful to society as their motives often appear to disregard the welfare of others: if one person is to increase in wealth, somebody else must be decreasing in wealth. However, greed has become more acceptable (and the word less frequent) in Western culture, where the desire to acquire wealth is an important part of capitalism.
Gluttony is a form of greed relating specifically to food and drink. Although eating disorders are widespread, the term "gluttony" is seldom used outside religious discussion.
There is also:
- Greed (1925 movie)
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Greed."
Synonyms: GreedySynonyms: avaricious (adj), avid (adj), covetous (adj), devouring(a) (adj), esurient (adj), grabby (adj), grasping (adj), prehensile (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Desire | Greedy; a. |
Gluttony | Adjective: gluttonous, greedy; gormandizing;Verb: edacious, omnivorous, crapulent, swinish. |
Greed | Greedy as a hog; overeager; voracious; ravenous, ravenous as a wolf; openmouthed, extortionate, exacting, sordid, alieni appetens; insatiable, insatiate; unquenchable, quenchless; omnivorous. |
Adjective: greedy, avaricious, covetous, acquisitive, grasping; rapacious; lickerish. | |
Parsimony | Adjective: parsimonious, penurious, stingy, miserly, mean, shabby, peddling, scrubby, penny wise, near, close; fast handed, close handed, strait handed; close fisted, hard fisted, tight fisted; tight, sparing; chary; grudging, griping; Verb: illiberal, ungenerous, churlish, hidebound, sordid, mercenary, venal, covetous, usurious, avaricious, greedy, extortionate, rapacious. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Greedy |
| English words defined with "greedy": avariciously ♦ covetously ♦ Gluttonish, Gormand, Gormandizer, greedily, Gripple, Guttler ♦ hog, hoggish ♦ Lickerish ♦ Midas ♦ On the make, Open-mouthed ♦ pig, piggish, piggy, porcine ♦ rapacious, ravening ♦ shark, swinish ♦ unselfish ♦ voracious. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "greedy": Covetous Man ♦ ENCORE ♦ fractional knapsack problem ♦ greedy algorithm, GREEDY GUTS, GUZZLE GUTS ♦ Pig ♦ Shotten Herring. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Right, let's sort the buyers from the spyers; the needy from the greedy; and those who trust me from the ones who don't (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels; writing credit: Guy Ritchie) You all look the same, you're all greedy, full of yourselves, and I wonder if there's a big dome someplace where they grow you. (Vengeance Unlimited; writing credit: Andrew Davies; William Makepeace Thackeray) All those that are greedy fall into the pit. (Digimon: Digital Monsters; writing credit: Dayna Barron) I think you are despicable, greedy, grasping, and wholly without principle or pity (Herbie Rides Again; writing credit: Gordon Buford; Bill Walsh) I'm with the greedy bloodsuckers (Zorro, the Gay Blade; writing credit: Greg Alt; Hal Dresner) | |
Lyrics | Greedy, greedy, greedy (Son Of A Gun (I Betcha Think This Song Is About You); performing artist: Janet Jackson) Too hot, too greedy. (Wuthering heights; performing artist: Kate Bush) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Greedy for Tweety (1957) The Greedy Neighbor (1914) Greedy Mouth (1981) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
| ||
Theater & Movies | |||
Music |
| ||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
![]() | You must give me the largest half of the apple, Ruth, because Mama says we mustn't be greedy. Credit: Library of Congress. | ![]() | Old Bachelor: How glad I am that I don't have to cart round endless bundles for greedy brats during the holidays. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
Attorney General Thomas C. Clark | We find greedy men, blind with the lust for money, trafficking in human misery. |
Niccolo Machiavelli | Of mankind we may say in general they are fickle, hypocritical, and greedy of gain. |
Seneca | Success is not greedy, as people think, but insignificant. That is why it satisfies nobody. |
W. S. Gilbert | Down went the owners -- greedy men whom hope of gain allured: oh, dry the starting tear, for they were heavily insured. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | Thenardier was sly, greedy, lounging, and clever |
Walden | Thoreau, Henry David | Yet not a few are greedy after this gossip |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
Ronald Reagan | 1981-1989 | The truly needy suffer as funds intended for them are taken not by the needy, but by the greedy. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Greedy" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 97.77% of the time. "Greedy" is used about 493 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 97.77% | 482 | 12,355 |
| Noun (proper) | 2.23% | 11 | 106,044 |
| Total | 100.00% | 493 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "greedy": be greedy ♦ become greedy ♦ greedy about ♦ greedy for ♦ greedy for power ♦ greedy guts ♦ greedy of ♦ greedy of pain ♦ greedy person ♦ greedy pig. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "greedy": Greedy-gut. | |
Ending with "greedy": goal-greedy, man-greedy, non-greedy, too-greedy. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "greedy"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Afrikaans | gretig (acquisitive, avid, eager, eager for), belus (acquisitive, eager), begerig (acquisitive, eager). (various references) | |
Albanian | grykës (gluttonous, guttural, voracious), nepsqar (leer, prurient, voracious), makut (Edacious, esurient, gluttonous, grasping, mingy, miser, open mouthed, pecker, piggish, rapacious, voracious), llupës (glutton, gluttonous, gourmand, guttler, guzzler, voracious), lakmitar (covetous, hoggish, lickerish, predatory), i babëzitur. (various references) | |
Arabic | متكالب (avid), طماع (avid, grasping, kidnapper, predatory, pushing, rapacious, ravening), طامع (avid, covetous, ravening), جشع (an itching palm, avarice, avaricious, avidity, cupidity, grasping, greed, mercenary, predatory, rapacious, rapacity, ravening), أناني (asocial, egocentric, egoist, egoistic, hoggish, self centered, self centred, selfish), شره (avid, avidity, cormorant, gluttonous, gourmand, greed, gross, hoggish, lickerish, pig, piggish, predatory, solicitous, voracious, voracity), شديد التوق إلي. (various references) | |
Basque | gozozale. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | ненаситен (avid, covetous, craving, grasping, insatiable, insatiate, ravenous, sateless, slakeless, voracious), лаком (avid, esurient, gourmand, grasping, gutsy, hoggish, lickerish, openmouthed, piggish, ravenous, voracious). (various references) | |
Chinese | 貪心 , 貪 , 饞 (food, gluttonous, to cook), 贪婪 (Acquisitive, Acquisitiveness, Avarice, Covetous, grabby, greed, rapacious), 騖 (fast, run rapidly), 亄 (covetous). (various references) | |
Czech | rozežraný, nenasytný (gluttonous, insatiable, insatiate, sateless, voracious), laèný penìz, laèný (greedy for, greedy of, hungry, possessive), hrabivý (avaricious, grasping, mercenary, rapacious), hltavý (gluttonous, omnivorous, ravenous, voracious, wolfish), hamižný, chtivý (avid, eager, hungry), chamtivý (avaricious, covetous, grasping, rapacious). (various references) | |
Dutch | happig (acquisitive, avid, eager), gretig (acquisitive, avid, eager), belust (acquisitive, avid, eager), begerig (acquisitive, avid, eager). (various references) | |
Esperanto | avida (avid, eager for). (various references) | |
Faeroese | grammur (acquisitive, eager). (various references) | |
Farsi | پرخور (Gobbler, Voracious), حریص (Avaricious, Avid, Fierce, Hungry, Perfervid, Voracious, Vulture), طماع (Avaricious), ازمند (Avaricious, Avid, Cormorant, Covetous), دندان گرد. (various references) | |
Finnish | ahne (acquisitive, eager). (various references) | |
French | avide (grasping), glouton, cupide (grasping, greedily). (various references) | |
German | habgierig (acquisitive, avaricious, eager, grasping, graspingly, greedily, possessive, rapacious), gierig (avaricious, avariciously, avid, avidly, grabby, greedily, hoggish, lustful, piggishly, voracious), begierig (acquisitive, avid, avidly, aware, desirous, desirously, eager, hungry, keen, thirstily, thirsty, wishful). (various references) | |
Greek | πλεονέκτησ (grasping), άπληστοσ (acquisitive, avid, cormorant, covetous, insatiable, rapacious, voracious), άπληστος (acquisitive, rapacious, voracious), λιχούδησ (lickerish), λαίμαργοσ (glutton, gluttonous, lickerish, ravenous), λαίμαργος (gluttonous), αχόρταγοσ (insatiable, voracious). (various references) | |
Hebrew | תאותן (lustful), תאב (avid, craving, desirous, eager, longing, thirsty), חמ"ן (lustful), חמ" י (lustful), או"ב כסף (grasping, mercenary), כילי (avaricious, mean, miserly), רו"ף בצע (grasping, mercenary), רעבת י (avid, gluttonous, hungry, ravenous, voracious), רעב (famine, famished, gluttonous, hunger, hungry, ravenous, scarcity, starvation, yearning). (various references) | |
Hungarian | kapzsi (acquisitive, avaricious, avariciously, avid, covetous, eager for gain, extortionate, grasping, have an itching palm, rapacious). (various references) | |
Indonesian | gelojoh (gluttomous), tamak (acquisitive, avarice, grasping, rapacious), rakus (edacious), loba (avaricious), kemaruk (covetous, ravenous), angkara (egotistical, insolent, self centered). (various references) | |
Italian | avido (acquisitive, athirst, avid, covetous, eager, grasping, hungry, thirsty, voracious), vorace (gutsy, ravenous, voracious), bramoso (acquisitive, avid, covetous, eager, hungry, longing, lustful, wishful, yearning). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 卑しい (base, humble, mean, shabby, vile, vulgar). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | いやしい (base, humble, mean, shabby, vile, vulgar), いじきたない (gluttonous), ものほし', よくふかい. (various references) | |
Korean | 욕심 많은. (various references) | |
Manx | sondagh (avaricious, close-fisted, covetous, miser, selfish, sordid), jollyssagh (avid, immoderate, insatiable, rapacious, voracious), jioogh (avid, gluttonous, insatiable, voracious). (various references) | |
Norwegian | grådig (gluttonous). (various references) | |
Occitan | golard. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | eedygray.(various references) | |
Portuguese | guloso (gluttonous, gourmand, lickerish, sweet tooth), ganancioso (acquisitive, grasping, rapacious), voraz (cormorant, edacious, gluttonous, gourmand, lickerish, rapacious, ravenous), sequioso (acquisitive, eager, thirsty), sedento (acquisitive, athirst, eager, thirsty), insacivel, comilo (gourmand, guzzler), cobiçoso (acquisitive, covetous, eager), vido (grasping, hard set, hungry), ambicioso (ambitious, aspiring, covetous, pushful), ávido (acquisitive, appropriative, athirst, avid, eager, edacious, jejune, lickerish, rapacious, ravenous, wishful, wistful). (various references) | |
Romanian | gurmand (food-minded, glutton, gourmand, gourmandizer, gourmet, hog, pecker), gãman (glutton, gluttonous), nerãbdãtor (agog, anxious, eager, impatient, impatiently, petulant, solicitous), mercenar (free lance, hireling, mercenary), lacom (avid, covetous, craving, devouringly, edacious, esurient, glutton, gluttonous, hoggish, hungry, insatiable, lickerish, open mouthed, piggish, rapacious, ravenous, voracious, wishful, wolfish), hulpav (greedily, ravenously), hapsân (cruel, fierce, grabbing, wicked), pofticios (longing, wanton, wishful, wistful), nesãţios (insatiable, ravenous), acaparat (absorbing, grasping), dornic (agog, anxious, desirous, eager, wishful), calic (beggar, cadger, cripple, glutton, pauper, ragamuffin, ragged, skinflint, tatterdemalion), avid (avid, eager, greedily, insatiable, rapacious), apucãtor (grasping), acaparator (absorbing, accumulator, acquisitive, buyer-up, covetous, engrossing, food hoarder, forestalling, grabber, grasping, money making, money-grabbing, monopolizer, predatory), hãmesit (famished, hungered, ravenous). (various references) | |
Russian | жадный (avaricious, avid, covetous, edacious, esurient, glutton, grasping, hoggish, insatiable, large-handed, locust, mingy, open mouthed, piggish, rapacious, ravenous, sharp-set, voracious), алчный (acquisitive, avaricious, avid, covetous, eager). (various references) | |
Scottish | sanntach (desirous). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | gladan (hungry, lean, peckish, starveling, starving), pohlepan (avaricious, lickerish, rapacious, sharp-set), požudan (lustful), koristoljubiv (self-interested, self-seeking, worldly-minded). (various references) | |
Spanish | codicioso (acquisitive, avaricious, covetous, eager, mammonish), ávido (acquisitive, appetent, athirst, avid, covetous, eager, lickerish, rapacious), goloso (gourmand, sweet tooth). (various references) | |
Swedish | sniken (acquisitive, avaricious, covetous, eager), snål (acquisitive, chary, close, close-fisted, eager, illiberal, mean, mingy, skimpy, stingly, stingy, tight-fisted, ungenerous), vinningslysten (covetous, mercenary), girig (avaricious, avid, covetous, grabby, grasping, miserly, moneygrubbing, sordid, stingy). (various references) | |
Turkish | gözü aç (grasping, insatiable, ravenous), tamahkâr (avaricious, miserly), pisboğaz (gluttonous, gourmand, piggish, piglike, ravenous), obur (cormorant, edacious, esurient, glutton, gluttonous, gormandizer, gourmand, guzzler, hog, lickerish, open mouthed, piggish, ravenous, voracious), hevesli (ambitious, anxious, desirous, eager, earnest, enthusiastic, full of zeal, game, great, hellbent, intent, itching, itchy, keen, responsive, spirited, studious, zealous), hırslı (ambitious, angry, avid, competitive, covetous, greedy for, high-flying, impassioned, passionate, uptight, voracious), doyumsuz (avid, grasping, insatiable), açgözlü (acquisitive, avid, covetous, esurient, grabber, grasping, hoggish, insatiable, open mouthed, piggish, piglike, rapacious, ravenous, voracious, vulturine, vulturous, wolfish). (various references) | |
Turkmen | gysganз (miser, miserly), husyt (avaracious), betnebis, aз gцz. (various references) | |
Ukrainian | ненажерливий (edacious, gluttonous, gourmand, ravenous, voracious, wide-mouthed), жадібний (acquisitive, avaricious, avid, covetous, edacious, esurient, grasping, open mouthed, piggish, rapacious), жадаючий (appetent, athirst, avid, hungry, longing, solicitous, thirsty, zealous). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | thiết tha (eager, keen), tham ăn (gluttonous, voracious), háu ăn tham lam, hám thèm khát. (various references) | |
Welsh | gwancus (voracious), trachwantus (covetous), bwyteig (voracious), bolrwth (gluttonous), blysig (lustful), barus (voracious), awchus (ardent, eager, keen, sharp). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | appetentes, avare, avari, avaris, avaro, avarus. (various references) |
| Old English | 450-1100 | gifre. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Language | Date | Source | Proverbs Chapter 15, Verse 27 |
| Latin | 405 | Vulgate | Conturbat domum suam qui sectatur avaritiam qui autem odit munera vivet |
| Middle English | 1395 | Wyclif | He al disturbith his hous, that folewith auarice; who forsothe hatith yiftis, shal liue. Bi merci and feith ben purgyd synnes; bi the drede forsothe of the Lord bowith doun eche man fro euel. |
| Jacobean English | 1611 | King James | He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house; but he that hateth gifts shall live. |
| Victorian English | 1833 | Webster | He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house; but he that hateth gifts shall live. |
| Basic English | 1964 | Ogden | He whose desires are fixed on profit is a cause of trouble to his family; but he who has no desire for offerings will have life. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Proverbs Chapter 15, Verse 27 |
| Cebuano | ¶ Kadtong hakog sa ganancia nagasamok sa iyang kaugalingong balay; Apan kadtong nagadumot sa mga hiphip mabuhi. |
| Croatian | Tko se grabežu oda, razara svoj dom, a tko mrzi mito, živjet æe. |
| Danish | Den øder sit Hus, hvem Vinding er alt; men leve skal den, der hader Gave. |
| Dutch | Die gierigheid pleegt, beroert zijn huis; maar die geschenken haat, zal leven. |
| Finnish | Väärän voiton pyytäjä hävittää huoneensa, mutta joka lahjuksia vihaa, saa elää. |
| French | Celui qui est avide de gain trouble sa maison, Mais celui qui hait les présents vivra. |
| German | Der Geizige verstört sein eigen Haus; wer aber Geschenke haßt, der wird leben. |
| Haitian Creole | ¶ Moun k'ap kouri dèyè lajan, se traka y'ap chache bay fanmi yo. Men, moun ki refize kite yo achte l' ap viv lontan. |
| Hungarian | Megháborítja az õ házát, a ki követi a telhetetlenséget; a ki pedig gyûlöli az ajándékokat, él az. |
| Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari | Siapa mencari keuntungan yang tidak halal, menghancurkan keluarganya sendiri. Siapa membenci uang sogok, akan hidup bahagia. |
| Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama | Barangsiapa yang gelojoh akan laba yang keji itu membongkar rumahnya sendiri, tetapi orang yang benci akan pemberian itu selamatlah ia kelak. |
| Italian | Sconvolge la sua casa chi è avido di guadagni disonesti; ma chi detesta i regali vivr . |
| Maori | ¶ Ko te tangata apo taonga, raruraru ana i a ia tona whare; ka ora ia te tangata e kino ana ki nga mea homai noa. |
| Norwegian | Den som jager efter vinning, setter sitt hus i ulag, men den som hater gaver*, skal leve. # <* d.e. bestikkelse.> |
| Rumanian | Cel lacom de ckwtig kwi turburq casa, dar cel ce urqwte mita va trqi. - |
| Russian | лПТЩУФПМА'ЙЧЩК ТБУУФТПЙФ "ПН УЧПК, Б ОЕОБЧЙ"СЭЙК П"БТЛЙ 'Х"ЕФ ЦЙФШ. |
| Spanish | El que tiene ganancias injustas perturba su casa, pero el que aborrece el soborno vivirá. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Derivations | |
Words ending with "greedy": ungreedy. (additional references) | |
| |
"Greedy" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: creedy, Freedy, Giraudy, Gledy, gradey, gread, greaty, Grecy, grede, greede, greedly, greedu, greek, greenday, greesy, greety, Greevy, greid, Greigy, grely, grendy, gresy, grey, greyey, gridy, grody, Groody, grued, gry, gwryd, Preedy, treedy. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "greedy" (pronounced grē"dē) |
| 4 | -r ē" d ē | reedy. |
| 3 | -ē" d ē | beady, deedy, Midi, needy, seedy, speedy, tweedy, weedy. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: greyed. | |
| Words within the letters "d-e-e-g-r-y" | |
-1 letter: edger, greed, gyred, redye, reedy. | |
-2 letters: deer, dere, dree, dreg, dyer, edge, edgy, eery, eger, eyed, eyer, eyre, geed, gree, grey, gyre, rede, reed. | |
-3 letters: dee, dey, dry, dye, ere, erg, eye, ged, gee, gey, red, ree, reg, rye. | |
-4 letters: de, ed, er, re, ye. | |
| Words containing the letters "d-e-e-g-r-y" | |
+2 letters: frogeyed, greedily, legendry, redyeing, ungreedy. | |
+3 letters: glyceride, legendary, redefying, redenying, remedying. | |
+4 letters: degeneracy, degradedly, detergency, divergency, gendarmery, glycerides, overdyeing, reedifying, resignedly. | |
+5 letters: aggrievedly, demagoguery, diglyceride, dingleberry, divergently, endearingly, gerrymander, hydrogenase, hydrogenate, legendarily, redeploying, reembodying. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Quotations: Familiar | 9. Quotations: Fiction 10. Quotations: Speeches 11. Usage Frequency 12. Expressions | 13. Expressions: Internet 14. Translations: Modern 15. Translations: Ancient 16. Bible Trace | 17. Derivations 18. Rhymes 19. Anagrams 20. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.