Today's Word

Avarice

AV-uh-ris

Definition

(noun) Extreme greed for wealth or material gain.

Example

His avarice drove him to exploit every opportunity, no matter who was hurt in the process.

Word Origin

From Latin avaritia, meaning “greed” or “covetousness.”

Fun Fact

Avarice has been condemned for centuries as one of the Seven Deadly Sins, but it often hides behind ambition or thrift. In literature, it’s a recurring theme—from Charles Dickens’s Ebenezer Scrooge to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Jay Gatsby—characters who chase wealth so relentlessly that it consumes their humanity. Psychologists note that avarice isn’t just about money; it’s about control and fear of loss, a hunger that grows stronger the more it’s fed.

Previous Words

Acumen

Today's Word

Acumen

AK-yoo-men

Definition

(noun) The ability to make quick, smart judgments and decisions; keen insight and shrewdness.

Example

Her financial acumen was evident from the start — within six months of joining the firm, she had identified three inefficiencies that had gone unnoticed for years.

Word Origin

Acumen comes directly from the Latin acumen, meaning “sharpness” or “a point,” derived from acuere — “to sharpen.” The same root gives us acute, acupuncture, and acuity — all words carrying the sense of something pointed, precise, and penetrating. It entered English in the 16th century, originally used to describe mental sharpness before settling into its modern sense of shrewd, practical judgment.

Fun Fact

The Roman orator Cicero was considered the gold standard of acumen in the ancient world — not just for his intellect but for his almost supernatural ability to read a room, anticipate opponents, and make split-second rhetorical decisions under pressure. Julius Caesar, no slouch himself, reportedly studied Cicero’s speeches obsessively. When Cicero was eventually executed on Mark Antony’s orders, Antony’s wife Fulvia is said to have pulled out Cicero’s tongue and stabbed it with her hairpin — a final act of revenge against the sharpest tongue in Rome.

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Avarice

Definition

Example

Word Origin

Previous Words

Acumen

Acumen

Definition

Example

Word Origin

Acumen

Contumacious

Ineffable

Disparate

Esoteric