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Monday February 08, 2010

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cupidity [kyoo-PID-uh-tee]

noun

1. Eager or inordinate desire, especially for wealth; greed; avarice; covetousness.

• The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated, but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience."
  Letters, "Busybody odor" , Washington Times, Jun 30, 2009
• The financial moguls, contrary to all appearance, are not stupid. But cupidity blinded their eyes and stupefied their common sense.
  Robert Heller, "Learn from their mistakes? That'll be the day", The Observer, Apr 12, 2009
• The struggle of life made even a jesting supposition of wealth excite her cupidity.
  Arlo Bates (1850 - 1918) An American author, educator and newspaperman. The Philistines (1888)

Origin of the Word

Cupidity, approximately 1436, derives from Middle English and Middle French cupidite, from Latin cupiditas "passionate desire," from cupidus "eager, passionate," from cupere "to desire"; related to the Roman god of love, Cupid.