Meanings
- uncountableMoney, riches, or wealth, especially when seen as having a corrupting effect or causing greed, or obtained in an underhanded manner.
[…] [I]t's only fair that you should pocket the lucre. I've had my share already.
1884 December, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Body Snatcher”, in Pall Mall Christmas “Extra”, London, →OCLC; republished as “The Body-snatcher”, in The Novels and Tales of Robert Louis Stevenson: The Black Arrow; The Misadventures of John Nicholson; The Body-snatcher, volume 8, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1895, →OCLC, page 4213 more examples
A Biſhop then muſt be blameleſſe, the huſband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behauiour, giuen to hoſpitalitie, apt to teach; / Not giuen to wine, no ſtriker, not greedy of filthy lucre, but patient, not a brawler, not couetous; […]
1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Timothy 3:2–3By-ends and Silver-Demas both agree; / One calls, the other runs, that he may be / A ſharer in his lucre; ſo theſe two / Take up in this World, and no further go.
1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], →OCLC, page 145When a man bargains for the price of maintaining such or such principles, or of endeavouring to make out such or such a case, without believing in the soundness of the principles or the truth of the case; such a man, whether he touch the cash (or paper-money) before or after the performance of his work, and whether he work with his tongue or his pen, may, I think be fairly charged with seeking after "base lucre;" for he, in such case, manifestly sells not only the use of his talents, but his sincerity into the bargain, and drives a traffic as nearly allied to soul-selling as any thing in this world can be; […]
1810 July 13, William Cobbett, “To the Reader”, in Cobbett’s Weekly Political Register, volume XVIII, number 1, London: Printed by T[homas] C[urson] Hansard, Peterborough Court, Fleet Street; and sold by Richard Bagshaw, Brydges Street, Covent-Garden, and John Budd, Pall-Mall, published 14 July 1810, →OCLC, columns 13–14Synonyms: mammon
Synonyms & antonyms
nounMoney, riches, or wealth, especially when seen as having a corrupting effect or causing greed, or obtained in an underhanded manner.
More synonyms by meaning
nouninformal terms for money
nounthe excess of revenues over outlays in a given period of time (including depreciation and other non-cash expenses)
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*leh₂w-“gain, profit”
- Latinlucrum“advantage, profit; love of gain, avarice”
- Old Frenchlucre
- Middle Englishlūcre
- Englishlucre
From Middle English lūcre, lucor, lucour, lucur (“gain in money, profit; money; wages; illicit gain; advantage, benefit”), from Old French lucre or Latin lucrum (“advantage, profit; love of gain, avarice”), from Proto-Indo-European *leh₂w- (“gain, profit”) + *-tlom (variant of *-trom (suffix forming nouns denoting tools or instruments)).
More words from Middle English, Old French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans rykdom
- rykdommoney, riches, or wealth
Bulgarian богатство
- богатство (bogatstvo)money, riches, or wealth
Czech prachy, mamon
- prachymoney, riches, or wealth
- mamonmoney, riches, or wealth
- penízemoney, riches, or wealth
Dutch gewin, profijt
- gewinmoney, riches, or wealth
- profijtmoney, riches, or wealth
Finnish pätäkkä
- pätäkkämoney, riches, or wealth
French gain, profit
- gainmoney, riches, or wealth
- profitmoney, riches, or wealth
- lucremoney, riches, or wealth
Scottish Gaelic prothaid
- prothaidmoney, riches, or wealth
Spanish lucro
- lucromoney, riches, or wealth
Welsh budrelw
- budrelwmoney, riches, or wealth
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with lucre
All rhymes →Sounds the same
Anagrams
Cite this entry
lucre. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lucre
“lucre.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lucre. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “lucre,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lucre.
Source: lucre on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.