Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Bible Riches, avarice, and worldly gain personified as a false god in the New Testament.
  • noun Material wealth regarded as having an evil influence.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A Syriac word used once in the New Testament as a personification of riches and worldliness, or the god of this world; hence, the spirit or deity of avarice; cupidity personified.
  • noun [lowercase] Material wealth; worldly possessions.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Riches; wealth; the god of riches; riches, personified.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The desire for wealth personified as an evil spirit.
  • noun Wealth, material avarice, profit.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun (New Testament) a personification of wealth and avarice as an evil spirit
  • noun wealth regarded as an evil influence

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Late Latin mammon, from Greek mamōnās, from Aramaic māmonā, riches, probably from Mishnaic Hebrew māmôn; see ℵmn in Semitic roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Late Latin mammona ("wealth"), from Hellenistic Ancient Greek μαμωνᾶς, from Aramaic  (māmōnā, "riches").

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Examples

  • They all decried what I term Mammon's unholy trinity of church, state and corporation.

    Jesus as role model for Liberals 2006

  • The Tea Party mob is much more interested in Mammon than God, and one can't serve both.

    DeMint says Tea Party activists leading spiritual revival 2010

  • For, in short, Mammon _is_ not a god at all; but a devil, and even a very despicable devil.

    Past and Present Thomas Carlyle 1838

  • Mammon is a Syriac word, that signifies gain; so that whatever in this world is, or is accounted by us to be, gain (Phil.iii. 7), is mammon.

    Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume V (Matthew to John) 1721

  • Most I've known have been lost to Mammon, which is to be expected.

    The Latest Teacup Tempest Hal Duncan 2007

  • Ages; thus Peter Lombard (II, dist. 6) says, "Riches are called by the name of a devil, namely Mammon, for Mammon is the name of a devil, by which name riches are called according to the Syrian tongue."

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 9: Laprade-Mass Liturgy 1840-1916 1913

  • It may have once been called Mammon, but most today know it as The Market, and his followers (this God is most certainly male) are called CEOs and hedge-fund managers and oligarchs and traders.

    open Democracy News Analysis - Comments Jon M 2008

  • It may have once been called Mammon, but most today know it as The Market, and his followers (this God is most certainly male) are called CEOs and hedge-fund managers and oligarchs and traders.

    open Democracy News Analysis - Comments Jonas VanGee 2008

  • Vernoniad_, there was added a lengthy mock-title in Greek, the whole being presented as a lost fragment by Homer, describing, in epic style, the mission of one "Mammon" sent by Satan to baffle the fleets of a nation engaged in war with _Iberia_.

    Henry Fielding: a Memoir G. M. Godden

  • "Mammon" (Walpole was reputed to have amassed much wealth) hides his palace walls by heaps of

    Henry Fielding: a Memoir G. M. Godden

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