greedy

American  

[gree-dee] / ˈgri di /

adjective

• greedier,
  comparative
• greediest
  superlative

1. excessively or inordinately desirous of wealth, profit, etc..

   The greedy owners of the company paid their employees too little and charged their customers too much.

   Synonyms:

   selfish, rapacious, grasping

   Antonyms:

   unselfish, generous

2. having an excessive desire for food or drink.

   That greedy guy ate four of those brownies before anyone else got any!

   Synonyms:

   insatiable, gluttonous, voracious, ravenous

3. keenly desirous; eager (often followed by of orfor ).

   greedy for praise.

   Synonyms:

   covetous, anxious

4. requiring or using much of a specified thing (often used in combination).

   These big trucks are fuel-greedy.

   Crops that are greedy for water should not be planted in dry regions.

5. Computers.

   1. of or relating to an algorithm, search, etc., that operates one step at a time instead of checking all possible paths or solutions all at once and then selecting the one with the best overall outcome.

      A result may be achieved faster with a greedy search, but that result is not always the correct or best one.

   2. of or relating to an operator or quantifier in a search query that will return the largest match result possible.

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greedy British  

/ ˈɡriːdɪ /

adjective

1. excessively desirous of food or wealth, esp in large amounts; voracious

2. eager (for)

   a man greedy for success

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Usage

What does greedy mean? Greedy means filled with greed—an excessive desire for more, especially for more money and possessions. It can be used to describe people, as in greedy billionaires, or actions that are based on greed, as in It was a greedy scheme to squeeze more money out of people.  Greed and greedy are always used negatively to criticize the excessive desire for more. Greed is often thought to influence people to do bad things in their obsession to acquire more money or more stuff. In the expression “the love of money is the root of all evil,” the love of money is another way of saying being greedy. Less commonly, greedy can mean the same thing as gluttonous—having an excessive desire for food. Example: These greedy hedge fund managers have more money than they can spend in a lifetime, yet they insist on trying to get away with paying the least amount of taxes possible.

Synonym Usage

See avaricious, greed.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• greediness
  noun
• overgreediness
  noun
• nongreedy
  adjective
• overgreedy
  adjective
• ungreedy
  adjective
• greedily
  adverb
• overgreedily
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Adjectives

• greedier
  comparative
• greediest
  superlative

Etymology

Origin of greedy

First recorded before 900; Middle English gredy, Old English grædig; cognate with Old Norse grāthugr, Gothic gredags

Explanation

Being greedy means you want more and more of something, especially money. But you can be greedy for just about anything, including food, drink, or fame. People who are greedy are a little too interested in having something. Usually, that something is money. Rich people who keep trying to get more and more money are often accused by being greedy. A gluttonous person is greedy for food. If you're obsessed with something and can't get enough of it, you're greedy for it. This is a word for extreme, grasping, devouring behavior.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

greedy greedier greediest

Yet her latest documentary, debuting on Netflix Wednesday, is “Freefall: A Reckoning for Boeing,” which portrays the airplane maker’s continuing malfeasance as not just greedy but malevolent.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026

But it’s also a story about, say, how a creature’s loneliness might make him greedy and petulant, and how sometimes the best solution is to feed someone’s heart as opposed to their impulses.

From Salon ● Jul. 8, 2026

“Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful.”

From Barron's ● Jun. 30, 2026

The tricky part is guiding your parent to make sound decisions without coming across as greedy.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026

And if you held any sympathetic feelings for this greedy, sweaty-jowled, incompetent swindler, then abandon them here.

From "The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams" by Daniel Nayeri

“True to form, more than half is still in its wrapper, hidden from greedy hands and greedier palates, one end neatly cut away as if by the hand of a fantastically skilled mohel.”

From New York Times ● May 25, 2020

And now, they have just become greedier and don’t know where to stop.”

From Fox News ● Dec. 8, 2018

Those like Silver who reached the pinnacle of power get even greedier.

From Washington Times ● Sep. 26, 2018

But their attempt to capture QED in Seattle had been brazen, and it had nearly succeeded: A greedier owner would have taken the money rather than write to his cousin at the CIA.

From MSNBC ● Nov. 7, 2017

I am getting greedier and greedier with the thought that two of us can bring home more corn than Kim can by himself.

From "First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers" by Loung Ung

Only the greediest dullards seem to have kept their focus.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 7, 2026

The wiliest or greediest adult children have their eye on the main prize: real estate.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 3, 2025

“We have so much land, so much resource, but we must be one of the greediest countries out there.”

From BBC ● Nov. 25, 2024

“They’ve just chosen the greediest path. … If they took a little bit less money but emphasized Facebook in the way they apply algorithms, they could help save lives.”

From Washington Post ● Oct. 5, 2021

She was certain that if Cluny’s army overran Redwall, there would be enough treasure to keep even the greediest creature happy for life.

From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques

Related Words

• eager
• hungry
• impatient
• rapacious
• selfish