acquisitivenessn.
/əˈkwɪzᵻtᵻvnᵻs/, U.S. /əˈkwɪzᵻdᵻvnᵻs/, /æˈkwɪzᵻdᵻvnᵻs/ The quality or condition of being acquisitive; spec. †one of the ‘faculties’ to which phrenologists assigned a special ‘organ’ or region of the brain (obsolete).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > psychology > faculty psychology > psychological study of the skull > [noun] > faculty of acquisitiveness
covetiveness1815
acquisitiveness1826
the mind > will > wish or inclination > desire > inordinate or excessive desire > [noun] > inordinate desire of possessions
greediness1154
greedilaikc1175
yissingc1275
covetise1297
covetingc1315
winningheadc1315
concupiscencec1340
avaricec1386
greedy worm1430
cupidity1436
covetousness1526
avariciousness1560
greed1609
an itching palma1616
gripulousness1633
havingness1646
avarition1661
my-ness1662
aviditya1680
gripingness1683
ingordigiousnessa1734
graspingness1747
accumulativeness1821
acquisitiveness1826
pleonexia1858
possessiveness1864
over-greed1867
appropriativeness1882
1826 Edinb. Rev. 94 271 Because avarice is a vice of pretty common occurrence, it is raised into an original attribute of our nature, by the name of Acquisitiveness.
1827 J. C. Hare & A. W. Hare Guesses at Truth I. 143 Civilization takes the heart and sticks it beside the head, just where Spurzheim finds the organ of acquisitiveness.
1836 T. Jarrold Instinct & Reason 257 Whether the love of money, (acquisitiveness)..has a prescribed seat in the brain, or whether the heart may not contend with the head for its residence, are probably not yet ascertained.
1848 Amer. Phrenol. Jrnl. & Misc. 10 129 Dr. Francois Joseph Gall, the Discoverer of Phrenology—Large Brain, Vigorous Temperament..Acquisitiveness, Amativeness, Philoprogenitiveness, Language, all large or very large.
1863 A. P. Stanley Lect. Jewish Church I. ii. 38 The exact ornaments still so dear to Arab acquisitiveness in this very region, the ear-ring or nose-ring.
1940 Proc. Prehistoric Soc. 6 120 Beaker people..showed a magpie acquisitiveness for other people's chattels.
1978 Times 28 Aug. 8/8 William Randolph Hearst's fairy castle..is an unmissable monument to random acquisitiveness.
2001 Financial Times 27 Jan. (Weekend Suppl.) IV/7 This, then, is a book about desire, acquisitiveness and man's immortal addiction to the idea of the quest.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2011; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1826