covetous
/ˈkʌvɪtəs
/adjective
Having or showing a great desire to possess something belonging to someone else: she fingered the linen with covetous hands...
- It may have been borne out of provincial jealousy and a covetous desire, but the attack was startling in its intensity.
- By capturing them on canvas he forever locates them, with covetous jealousy, within his private, contained artistic universe.
- Our King was, in a simple statement, a greedy, power-hungry covetous hog.
Synonyms
grasping, greedy, rapacious, insatiable, yearning, acquisitive, desirous, possessive, selfish;
jealous, envious, green with envy, green, green-eyed;
grudging, begrudging
North American informal grabby
Derivatives
covetously
- Since I was alone, I did not dare to leave my spot, which other concertgoers were already eyeing covetously, to get an extra chair.
- I used to sit at the kitchen table and covetously turn the thin pages, dog earring necessities to be pointed out to my parents.
- Historians may look covetously at the Academy's scientists.
covetousness
- While lagging behind on covetousness and lust, we beat all comers in the sheer weight of our self-admiration.
- To this flesh belong adultery, covetousness, lust and murder.
- The sections explore grace in relation to problems like anxiety, impatience, covetousness, despondency and lust.
Origin
Middle English: from Old French coveitous, based on Latin cupiditas (see cupidity).