Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In psychology: The proprietary or collecting instinct.
- noun The capacity for learning or for intellectual acquisition.
- noun The quality of being acquisitive; a propensity to acquire property.
- noun In phrenology, the organ to which is attributed the function of producing the general desire to acquire and possess, apart from the uses of the objects. Sometimes called
covetiveness . - noun See cut under
phrenology .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The quality of being acquisitive; propensity to acquire property; desire of possession.
- noun (Phren.) The faculty to which the phrenologists attribute the desire of acquiring and possessing.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The quality of being
acquisitive ;propensity toacquire property ;desire ofpossession . - noun The faculty to which the
phrenologists attribute the desire of acquiring and possessing.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun strong desire to acquire and possess
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word acquisitiveness.
Examples
-
We might study if acquisitiveness is a characteristic that shows variation due to genetics across population groups.
The Volokh Conspiracy » Approaching Arguments That Have A Racist Past 2010
-
The demand of the belly-need is too strong; the friction too great: individuality is repressed, forced to manifest itself in acquisitiveness and selfishness.
-
The demand of the belly-need is too strong; the friction too great: individuality is repressed, forced to manifest itself in acquisitiveness and selfishness.
-
But other desires kept them active: four in particular, which we can label acquisitiveness, rivalry, vanity, and love of power.
-
Dexter Allison is no doubt an estimable man in many ways, even though, as you feel positive, he has a tendency to acquisitiveness which is deplorable.
Then I'll Come Back to You Larry Evans
-
They spring straight from the acquisitiveness which is a universal characteristic of human nature and indeed of animal and vegetable nature.
The Unity of Civilization Various
-
_Simple_ reflex action, or instinct, answers to the animal faculties, such as acquisitiveness, secretiveness, selfishness, reproductiveness, etc., and accomplishes two important purposes; self-preservation and the reproduction of the specie.
The People's Common Sense Medical Adviser in Plain English or, Medicine Simplified, 54th ed., One Million, Six Hundred and Fifty Thousand Ray Vaughn Pierce 1877
-
I have a tolerable "acquisitiveness" among my other organs, but think I would rather get than keep money, and to earn would always be pleasanter to me than to save.
Records of a Girlhood Fanny Kemble 1851
-
The collector happened, by good luck, to have a large "acquisitiveness," and
Travels in the Great Desert of Sahara, in the Years of 1845 and 1846 James Richardson 1828
-
Up to the year 1830 Phileas, who was thus enabled to exercise his bump of "acquisitiveness," earned every year a sum equivalent to his expenses.
The Deputy of Arcis Honor�� de Balzac 1824
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.