Definition from: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/covetousness Noun 1. covetousness - an envious eagerness to possess something enviousness, envy - a feeling of grudging admiration and desire to have something that is possessed by another 2. covetousness - extreme greed for material wealth avariciousness, cupidity, avarice
greed - excessive desire to acquire or possess more (especially more material wealth) than one needs or deserves 3.covetousness - reprehensible acquisitiveness; insatiable desire for wealth (personified as one of the deadly sins) avarice, avaritia, greed, rapacity
deadly sin, mortal sin - an unpardonable sin entailing a total loss of grace; "theologians list seven mortal sins" SEE ALSO COLOSSIANS 3:5 which states covetousness is the same as idolatry.
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Catholic AnswerTo covet is to desire something, to desire (or lust) after something that you shouldn't be. The ninth commandment forbids us to covet our neighbor's wife - this obviously is covering all those sexual sins which are in our mind where we are lusting after someone who should not be an object of our desire. The tenth commandment covers covet of things: our neighbor's possessions. We are forbidden to desire things that do not belong to us.