envious
/ˈɛnviːəs/
envious adjective: feeling or exhibiting envy; jealously desiring the excellence or good fortune of another; maliciously grudging.
Adjective
envious (comparative more envious, superlative most envious)
- Feeling or exhibiting envy; jealously desiring the excellence or good fortune of another; maliciously grudging.
- an envious man, disposition, or attack; envious tongues
- Fret not thy ſelfe becauſe of euill doers, neither bee thou enuious againſt the workers of iniquitie.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 37:1
- Excessively careful; cautious.
- for no man was ever so amorous, as to love a toad; none so envious, as to repine at the condition of the miserable1651, Jer[emy] Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Francis Ashe […], →OCLC
- Synonyms:
- overcautious
- Malignant; mischievous; spiteful.
- Each envious brier his weary legs doth scratch.1593, [William Shakespeare], Venus and Adonis, London: […] Richard Field, […], →OCLC
- Inspiring envy.
- He to him leapt, and that same envious gage / Of victors glory from him snatcht away.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 39
envious meaning in Hindi, Urdu, Bengali and Telugu
envious in Hindi
- feeling or exhibiting envy
- ईर्ष्यालू īrṣyālū
envious in Urdu
- envious
- ایرشالو īrśālū
envious in Bengali
- ঈর্ষান্বিত, পরশ্রীকাতর, অন্যের সাফল্য, সম্পদে অসন্তুষ্ট হওয়া
envious in Telugu
- envious
- మత్సరము matsaramu
More languagesFewer languages
- envious in Malayalam
- അസൂയയുള്ള, അസൂയപ്പെടുന്ന
- envious in Kannada
- ಕರುಬಿನ, ಹುರುಡಿನ
- envious in Odia
- ଈର୍ଷାପରାଯ଼ଣ
- envious in Sanskrit
- ईर्षु īrṣu
- envious in Sinhala
- කුහක kuhaka
- envious in Nepali
- ईर्ष्यालु
- envious in Arabic
- حَسُود ḥasūd
- envious in Indonesian
- iri
- envious in Persian
- حسود hasud
Examples of envious in a sentence
- Whereas we still had the old canvas “chummies” and we were quite envious.
- I was never jealous or envious when it came to things.
- Mozart often made merry over the Salzburgians; he called them stupid and envious.
Synonyms of envious
Forms of envious
| comparative | more envious |
|---|---|
| superlative | most envious |
Origin of envious
From Middle English envious, from Anglo-Norman envious, from Old French envieus, envious (modern French envieux), from Latin invidiōsus; more at envy. Doublet of invidious, borrowed directly from Latin. Displaced native Old English æfestiġ.
Words formed from envious
Questions about envious
- What does envious mean?
- Envious means feeling or exhibiting envy; jealously desiring the excellence or good fortune of another; maliciously grudging.
- What is envious in Hindi?
- Envious in Hindi is ईर्ष्यालू (īrṣyālū). See Envious meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is envious?
- Envious is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce envious?
- Envious is pronounced /ˈɛnviːəs/.
Words near envious in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: envious (page history and authors); ایرشالو (Urdu) (page history and authors); Envious (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); మత్సరము (Telugu) (page history and authors); envious (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); envious (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); envious (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); කුහක (Sinhala) (page history and authors); envious (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “envious.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/envious. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.