WordNet Dictionary- [n] reprehensible acquisitiveness; insatiable desire for wealth (personified as one of the deadly sins)
- [n] extreme greed for material wealth
- [n] an envious eagerness to possess something
Webster's 1913 Dictionary\Cov"et*ous*ness\, n.
1. Strong desire. [R.]
When workmen strive to do better than well, They do
confound their skill in covetousness. --Shak.
2. A strong or inordinate desire of obtaining and possessing
some supposed good; excessive desire for riches or money;
-- in a bad sense.
Covetousness, by a greed of getting more, deprivess
itself of the true end of getting. --Sprat.
Syn: Avarice; cupidity; eagerness.
Easton Bible Dictionarya strong desire after the possession of worldly things (Col. 3:5; Eph. 5:5; Heb. 13:5; 1 Tim. 6:9, 10; Matt. 6:20). It assumes sometimes the more aggravated form of avarice, which is the mark of cold-hearted worldliness.