Definition of "acquisitiveness" in Englisch

noun

1. The quality of being acquisitive; propensity to acquire property; desire of possession.

   • 1952, Patricia Highsmith (as Claire Morgan), The Price of Salt, New York: Norton, 2004, Chapter Eleven, p. 113, I think he picked me out like a rug for his living room, and he made a bad mistake. I doubt if he’s capable of loving anyone, really. What he has is a kind of acquisitiveness, which isn’t much separate from his ambition.

2. (phrenology) The faculty to which the phrenologists attribute the desire of acquiring and possessing.