covetousness

American  

[kuhv-i-tuhs-nis] / ˈkʌv ɪ təs nɪs /

noun

1. eager or excessive desire, especially for wealth or possessions.

   Social media so often encourages us to compare ourselves to others, inspiring covetousness and insecurity.

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Other Word Forms

• noncovetousness noun
• overcovetousness noun
• uncovetousness noun

Etymology

Origin of covetousness

covetous ( def. ) + -ness ( def. )

Example Sentences

The covetousness is conspicuous in the new thriller “Envy: A Seven Deadly Sins Story.”

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 9, 2021

Jean-Jacques Rousseau denounced fashion as a threat to moral society — an incitement to desire and covetousness, writing that finery is a “stranger to virtue.”

From New York Times • Dec. 22, 2020

It dips into rich territory by examining the covetousness social media inspires, not just for things, but for attention.

From Washington Times • Aug. 8, 2017

And giving in to envy and covetousness is not the path to safety, security and happiness.

From Washington Post • May 18, 2015

The world had caught him; pleasure, covetousness, idleness, and finally also that vice that he had always despised and scorned as the most foolish—acquisitiveness.

From "Siddhartha" by Hermann Hesse