envy

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“
This envy is the very father and mother of a great many hideous and prodigious wickednesses.

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Definitions (29)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (6)

  1. noun A feeling of discontent and resentment aroused by and in conjunction with desire for the possessions or qualities of another.
  2. noun The object of such feeling: Their new pool made them the envy of their neighbors.
  3. noun Obsolete Malevolence.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (16)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (3)

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Examples (50)

  • If her envy is the problem, that is something SHE can work on but there isn't much you can do yourself to make her less envious of you. —  The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com
  • In the first place, it is threatened by that envy which is at the bottom of nearly all revolutions; and then by progress, which baptizes the revolutions But, sir, such progress would be infamous. —  Renée Mauperin
  • Dirty, greasy monks could not endure an order that wore the garb of gentlemen, and were in favor with the aristocracy, while they themselves were despised This envy was all-powerful with them, and led, for a time, to the laying aside of their own private bickerings, and uniting in the crusade against the common enemy, the Jesuits, and acting in harmony with the political power NUNNERIES The Church has always made much of the nuns. —  Mexico and its Religion With Incidents of Travel in That Country During Parts of the Years 1851-52-53-54, and Historical Notices of Events Connected With Places Visited
  • If the Italians are excusably envious, their envy is at least accompanied with admiration.' —  Sketches
  • This is the test; and our attempt is the work of envy, which is blind, and does not see that repetition is not in this place a fault; for there is no general rule 49 To mask nature and disguise her. —  Pascal's Pensées
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

jealousy ·  malice ·  disappointment ·  greed ·  bitterness ·  discontent ·  impatience ·  distrust ·  pity ·  pride ·  admiration ·  avarice

Used in the same contextWord Family

envy:   envied
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (5)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English envie, from Old French, from Latin invidia, from invidus, envious, from invidēre, to look at with envy : in-, in, on; see en-1 + vidēre, to see; see weid- in Indo-European roots. V., from Middle English envien, from Old French envier, from Latin invidēre.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (4)

  1. Early modern English also envie; from Middle English envy, envye, envie, from Old French envie, French envie = Provencal enveia, eveia, evea = Spanish envidia = Portuguese inveja = Italian invidia, envy, odium, from Latin invidia, hatred or ill will felt by a person, jealousy, envy, or hatred or ill will felt toward a person, odium, unpopularity, from invidus, having hatred or ill will, envious, from invidere, hate, envy, look at with ill will, orig. look askance at, cast an evil eye upon, from in, upon, + videre, see: see vision, etc.
  2. Early mod, English also envie; from Middle English envyen, envien, from Old French envier, anvier, French envier, envy, long for, desire, = Provencal enveiar= Spanish envidiar = Portuguese invejar= Italian invidiare, envy; from the noun.
  3. from Middle English envien, envyen (also, by apheresis, vien,vyen, English vie), from Old French envier, anvier, invite, proffer, challenge, vie (in gaming), = Spanish Portuguese envidar = Italian invitare, invite, vie, from Latin invitare, invite, challenge: see invite. See also vie, an aphetic form of envy, which is itself an older form of invite.
  4. from Middle English envie, envye, enveye, envaye, from Old French envi (French envi), masculine, envie, feminine, a challenge, vying, emulation; from the verb: see envy, v. Hence, by apheresis, vie, n.
 

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/ˈɛnvi/
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