Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To feel blameworthy desire for (that which is another's). See Synonyms at envy.
- v. To wish for longingly. See Synonyms at desire.
- v. To feel immoderate desire for that which is another's.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To desire or wish for with eagerness; desire earnestly to obtain or possess: in a good sense.
- To desire inordinately or without due regard to the rights of others; wish to gain possession of in an unlawful way; long for, as that which it is unlawful to obtain or possess.
- Synonyms and To long for, hanker after, aspire to.
- To lust after.
- To have or indulge inordinate desire.
Wiktionary
- v. transitive To wish for with eagerness; to desire possession of, often enviously.
- v. transitive To long for inordinately or unlawfully; to hanker after (something forbidden).
- v. intransitive To yearn, have or indulge inordinate desire, notably for another's possession.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To wish for with eagerness; to desire possession of; -- used in a good sense.
- v. To long for inordinately or unlawfully; to hanker after (something forbidden).
- v. To have or indulge inordinate desire.
WordNet 3.0
- v. wish, long, or crave for (something, especially the property of another person)
Etymologies
- from Middle English coveiten, from Old French covoiter (modern convoiter), from covoitié ("desire"), presumably modified from Latin cupiditas. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English coveiten, from Old French coveitier, from covitie, desire, from Latin cupiditās, from cupidus, desirous, from cupere, to desire. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Such blight condemnations merely enable politically powerful interest groups to take property that they covet from the politically weak.”
The Volokh Conspiracy » Is the Debate Over Eminent Domain “Empty and Incoherent”?
“OH YOU KNOW THAT ONE? jeneane garofalo uses the word covet like every day must look that up some day. later big kiss mitten prev - next”
“The job all sandwich men covet is distributing handbills, which is paid for at the same rate.”
“Prosperity, which men so much covet, is the very source of provoking oppression (Ec 4: 1) and "envy," so far is it from constituting the chief good.”
“But should alarm bells be ringing because huge advertising company Google, which has never seen user data it didn’t covet, is behind it?”
“Bottega Veneta tie-dye scarf in magenta bordeaux, £255 I've never seen anything by BV that I didn't covet, which is why I always include them in gift guides.”
“To covet is to focus all our desire on something we do not have, perhaps cannot have.”
“To covet is to have lost our inner peace, our baseline satisfaction about who we are and what we have.”
“BENEDICT: Tiding is a principle that teaches business leaders to give up the one thing that many of us covet, which is money.”
“If you are looking round for something you can say in order to get the position you covet, that is another thing.”
The Complete Project Gutenberg Writings of Charles Dudley Warner
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘covet’.
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GRE 2014
abase, abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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EN - archaic words
abide, abjure, abroad, adamant, afield, aforetime, aghast, anon, apace, argent, assuage, aught and 328 more...
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RELI - words with Biblical connotations
Words in the Bible evoking biblical stories or with special spiritual meaning. Proper names have been reduced to the minimum.
ark, judgement, holy, saint, baptism, spirit, love, eternal, altar, balsam, covenant, flood and 1115 more...
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NTDW2
yawp, amidships, smug, jounce, fallow, conscionable, polyp, whit, nouveau riche, palatial, encomiastic, exchequer and 182 more...
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RELI - words you immediately associat...
advent, almighty, altar, anoint, apostle, archangel, ark, Balaam, baptism, baptist, baptize, begotten and 341 more...
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Imbible Code ✞
Christian word branding; common English word-associatives connected to Bible terminology or scripture.
I also have a general Bible-word list.god, father, son, trinity, sacrament, knowledge, serpent, flood, evil, good, spirit, revelation and 118 more...
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Interesting
iridescent, luminescent, gossamer, blithe, illusory, halo, cygnet, covet, bloody, iris, pruinose, limerence and 15 more...
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Desultory Digressions
Also known as EsotericWench's Word Holding Tank. These are words that have caught my fancy but I have yet to file in the appropriate list. If I don't capture them here, I won't capture them at all.
desultory, abjure, immethodical, mentalist, subvertising, schmaltzy, fartlek, interstitial, ear-rent, brouhaha, crufty, malefactor and 34 more...
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gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1523 more...
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SAT words
abase, abate, abet, abject, abjure, abrogate, abscond, abstruse, accolade, accommodating, accost, accretion and 202 more...
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Words I Know
List of most of the words I've learned
garner, abase, abate, abdicate, abduct, aberration, abet, abhor, abide, abject, abjure, abnegation and 1046 more...
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SAT vocab
abash, abdicate, abate, aberration, abhor, abject, abnegate, abortive, absolve, abstruse, accolade, accost and 175 more...
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collection
sanguine, vie, antebellum, glacial, treacly, iconoclast, lissom, anathema, serendipity, parsimonious, histrionic, contemptuous and 279 more...
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eesome
Includes any intangible conceivable independently of Hom. Sap.
depthless, overspire, unsteady, thitherward, rile, munchable, covet, pastinaceous, mirtle, slonk, tink, inerrarable and 345 more...
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word list!!!!
lagniappe
syzygy, bloviate, lagniappe, laconic, condign, umbrage, susurrus, thaumaturgy, capacious, capitulate, glower, repast and 179 more...
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Eazy E
motley, callous, languid, copious, dubious, contemptible, disparage, sporadic, gratuitous, disillusioned, conflagration, concordance and 99 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for covet.
Kristianto2010 You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. James 4:2.
Dec 15, 2010
yarb I agree with you 100%, EsotericWench! Aug 7, 2008
esotericwench A word doesn't have to be long or fancy to be wonderful. Covet is a great word. It rolls off the tongue with wonderful ease and has an enticing and vaguely puerile sound to it. Aug 7, 2008