cupidity
/kjuːˈpɪdəti/
cupidity noun: extreme greed, especially for wealth.
Noun
cupidity (countable and uncountable, plural cupidities)
- Extreme greed, especially for wealth.
- A bargain is a social evil; one man's loss, tempting another man's cupidity.1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “A Late Breakfast”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 71
- Now Jonah’s Captain, shipmates, was one whose discernment detects crime in any, but whose cupidity exposes it only in the penniless.1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chapter 9
- Synonyms:
- avarice, covetousness
cupidity meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
cupidity in Hindi
- extreme greed, especially for wealth
- लालच lālac, लोभ lobh
cupidity in Tamil
- பேராசை, பேராவல், பொருளாசை, இச்சை
cupidity in Urdu
- حرص, لالچ, طمع
cupidity in Bengali
- তীব্র অর্থলিপ্সা, সম্পদের প্রতি লোভ
More languagesFewer languages
- cupidity in Malayalam
- അത്യാഗ്രഹം, അത്യാർത്തി, അതിമോഹം
- cupidity in Kannada
- ಲೌಭ್ಯ
Examples of cupidity in a sentence
- “I have tried, as I hinted, to enlist the co-operation of other capitalists, but experience has taught me that any appeal is futile that does not impinge directly upon cupidity. …”1913, Robert Barr, chapter 4, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad:
- At its lowest level, this interest was based on mere cupidity—and that was an emotion that could have no place in a world where everyone possessed all that they could reasonably need.1956, Arthur C. Clarke, The City and the Stars, page 37:
- To previous resentment of the wide acceptance socially of [George] Hudson was added the venom of those whose cupidity had led them astray.1960 March, N. Caplan, “A Railway Member of Parliament”, in Railway Magazine, page 207:
- It was easy to dissimulate and disperse these modest purchases in such a way as not to excite the cupidity of any passing patrols.1982, Lawrence Durrell, Constance, Faber & Faber 2004 (Avignon Quintet), p. 784
Synonyms of cupidity
Forms of cupidity
| plural | cupidities |
|---|
Origin of cupidity
From French cupidité, from Latin cupiditās (“strong desire”), from cupidus (“keen, desirous”). Compare Cupid.
Questions about cupidity
- What does cupidity mean?
- Cupidity means extreme greed, especially for wealth.
- What is cupidity in Hindi?
- Cupidity in Hindi is लालच (lālac), लोभ (lobh). See Cupidity meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use cupidity in a sentence?
- “I have tried, as I hinted, to enlist the co-operation of other capitalists, but experience has taught me that any appeal is futile that does not impinge directly upon cupidity. …”
- What part of speech is cupidity?
- Cupidity is a noun.
- How do you pronounce cupidity?
- Cupidity is pronounced /kjuːˈpɪdəti/ (UK).
- What is the plural of cupidity?
- The plural of cupidity is cupidities.
Words near cupidity in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: cupidity (page history and authors); cupidity (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); cupidity (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); cupidity (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); cupidity (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); cupidity (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-uk-cupidity.ogg.
Cite this entry: “cupidity.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cupidity. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.