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insatiable greed for riches; inordinate, miserly desire to gain and h–rd wealth.
contemporary examples

i am writing it,” she tells us, “and i spill it all out on my lap like very money, like riches, beyond the dreams of avarice.
must reads allen barra, lucy scholes, kevin canfield, jane ciabattari october 2, 2011

it was the age of unbridled excess, avarice, and machismo gone haywire.
punk rock-feminist pioneer kathleen hanna on her sxsw doc and more marlow stern march 12, 2013

topsyby michael daly a tragic tale of a circus elephant who fell victim to human compet-tion and avarice.
this week’s hot reads: july 1, 2013 nicholas mancusi june 30, 2013

there was a whole thought in the 1980s, that wall street greed thing and this sense of avarice was in the air.
al pacino does what he wants to do: ‘the humbling,’ scorsese, and that ‘scarface’ remake alex suskind september 8, 2014

avarice will likely bring a politician down, unless the pol can be portrayed as a champion of the little guy or a cause.
the taxonomy of scandals: is obama nearing a breaking point? lloyd green may 26, 2013

historical examples

fortunately for me he is a rascal, a man without any principle, in whom avarice is a more powerful feeling than justice.
mark hurdlestone susanna moodie

he is incapable of envy or avarice, whether from virtue or from carelessness.
reflections francois duc de la rochefoucauld

the avarice of the companies results in misery for the p-ssengers.
a man of samples wm. h. maher

the old jests about her avarice were repeated over and over again.
doctor pascal emile zola

no: he hoped for more; and in all his writings sacrificed his duty to his avarice.
nature and art mrs. inchbald

noun
extreme greed for riches; cupidity
noun

excessive or insatiable desire or greed; cupidity
word origin

latin avere ‘to covet’
n.

c.1300, from old french avarice “greed, covetousness” (12c.), from latin avaritia “greed,” from avarus “greedy,” adjectival form of avere “crave, long for.”