Legal Definitions - lucre

Lucre refers to money or financial profit, particularly when it is emphasized as a primary motivation or when there's an implication of it being excessive, ill-gotten, or acquired through questionable means. While it fundamentally means monetary gain, the term often carries a subtle connotation of greed or unprincipled acquisition.

• Example 1: A pharmaceutical company drastically raises the price of a life-saving drug, making it unaffordable for many, purely to maximize its lucre.

  Explanation: This illustrates lucre as the substantial financial profit gained, highlighting the potentially unethical means (price gouging) and the company's primary motivation for excessive monetary gain.

• Example 2: An embezzler systematically diverts company funds into a personal offshore account, accumulating significant lucre at the expense of the business and its employees.

  Explanation: Here, lucre represents the ill-gotten monetary gain acquired through fraudulent means, directly illustrating profit obtained unethically and illegally.

• Example 3: Despite warnings about the environmental impact, a logging company clears a protected forest, driven solely by the promise of immense lucre from timber sales.

  Explanation: This example shows lucre as the substantial financial profit from the timber, emphasizing it as the sole, powerful motivation, even when it leads to negative consequences, thus capturing the term's often critical undertone.