envy
/ˈɛnvi/
envy noun: resentful desire of something possessed by another or others (but not limited to material possessions).
Noun
envy (countable and uncountable, plural envies)
- Resentful desire of something possessed by another or others (but not limited to material possessions).
- No bliss enjoyed by us excites his envy more.1667, John Milton, “(please specify the page number)”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker...
- Envy, to which the ignoble mind's a slave,
Is emulation in the learned or brave.1804, Alexander Pope, The Poetical Works of Alexander Pope, page 71
- An object of envious notice or feeling.
- This constitution in former days used to be the envy of the world[.]1843, Thomas Macaulay, Critical and Miscellaneous Essays, Carey & Hart, page 277
- Blacke Foryst of Despayr, taking photos of the band
Put 'em up on Myspace you're the envy of the land2008, Lich King (band), “Black Metal Sucks”, in Toxic Zombie Onslaught
- Hatred, enmity, ill-feeling.
- Syre said laūcelot vnto Arthur by this crye that ye haue made ye wyll put vs that ben aboute yow in grete Ieopardy
for there be many Knyghtes that haue grete enuye to vs
therfore whan we shal mete at the daye of Iustes there wille be hard skyfte amonge vs1485, Sir Thomas Malory, “lij”, in Le Morte Darthur, book X - But let me tell the World,
If he out-liue the enuie of this day,
England did neuer owe so sweet a hope,
So much misconstrued in his Wantonnesse.1598, William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part 1
- Syre said laūcelot vnto Arthur by this crye that ye haue made ye wyll put vs that ben aboute yow in grete Ieopardy
- Emulation; rivalry.
- Such as cleanliness and decency
Prompt to a virtuous envy.c. 1631-1636, John Ford, The Fancies Chaste and Noble
- Such as cleanliness and decency
- Public odium; ill repute.
- to lay the envy of the war upon Cicero1611, Ben[jamin] Jonson, Catiline His Conspiracy, London: […] [William Stansby?] for Walter Burre, →OCLC, (please specify the page)
- A red-skinned variety of eating apple.
Verb
envy (third-person singular simple present envies, present participle envying, simple past and past participle envied)
- To feel displeasure or hatred towards (someone) for their good fortune or possessions.
- Moon and Kim took a cable car together to Heaven Lake, a caldera at the top of the mountain, and walked around the area with their wives and officials from both sides.
Pictures showed Moon and Kim smiling and posing with their wives, and Moon filling a bottle with water from the lake.
“The Chinese...2018 September 20, Hyonhee Shin, Joyce Lee, Soyoung Kim, Haejin Choi, Pyongyang Press Corps., “Fulfilling a dream, South Korea's Moon visits sacred North Korean mountain with Kim”, in Lincoln Feast...
- Moon and Kim took a cable car together to Heaven Lake, a caldera at the top of the mountain, and walked around the area with their wives and officials from both sides.
- To resentfully or discontentedly desire (something someone else has that one lacks).
- To have envious feelings (at).
- I do not envy at their wealth, titles, offices;[…]let me live quiet and at ease.1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition II...
- Who envy at the prosperity of the wicked?1651, Jer[emy] Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Francis Ashe […], →OCLC
- To give (something) to (someone) grudgingly or reluctantly; to begrudge.
- But that sweet Cordiall, which can restore
A loue-sick hart, she did to him enuy[…].1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto V”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
- But that sweet Cordiall, which can restore
- To show malice or ill will; to rail.
- He has[…]envied against the people.c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
- To do harm to; to injure; to disparage.
- If I make a lie
To gain your love and envy my best mistress,
Put me against a wall.c. 1621, John Fletcher, Philip Massinger, “The Pilgrim”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, (please specify the...
- If I make a lie
- To hate.
- Both jealous of my love, envied each otherc. 1589–1590 (date written), Christopher Marlo[we], edited by Tho[mas] Heywood, The Famous Tragedy of the Rich Iew of Malta. […], London: […] I[ohn] B[eale] for Nicholas Vavasour, […], published...
- To emulate.
- Let later age that noble vse enuie,
Vile rancour to auoid, and cruell surquedrie1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
- Let later age that noble vse enuie,
envy meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
envy in Hindi
- resentful desire of something possessed by another
- ईर्ष्या īrṣyā, जलन jalan, रश्क raśk, हसद hasad
envy in Tamil
- to feel displeasure towards (someone) because of their good fortune, possessions
- பொறாமை poṟāmai
envy in Marathi
- envy
- हेवा hevā
- envy, emulation
- स्पर्धा spardhā
envy in Urdu
- resentful desire of something possessed by another
- حَسَد hasad, اِیرْشا īrśā, جَلَن jalan, اِیرْکھا īrkhā, رَشْک raśk
- to feel displeasure towards (someone) because of their good fortune, possessions
- جلنا jalnā, حسد کرنا hasad karnā, رشک کرنا rašk karnā
More languagesFewer languages
- envy in Bengali
- ঈর্ষা irśa
- envy in Telugu
- ఈర్ష్య īrṣya, ఈసు īsu, అసూయ asūya
- envy in Malayalam
- സ്പർധ spaṟdha
- envy in Kannada
- ಕಿಚ್ಚು kiccu
- envy in Punjabi
- ਈਰਖਾ īrakhā, ਹਸਦ hasad, حَسَد ḥasad
- envy in Odia
- ଈର୍ଷା, ଇର୍ଷା, ଈର୍ଷା କରିବା
- envy in Sanskrit
- ईर्षा īrṣā
- envy in Nepali
- ईर्ष्या, ईर्ष्या गर्ने, ईर्ष्या गर्न
- envy in Pashto
- حسد hasád
- envy in Tagalog
- inggit
- envy in Arabic
- حَسَد ḥasad, حَسَدَ ḥasada
- envy in Malay
- dengki, hasad
- envy in Indonesian
- dengki, cemburu, iri, hasad
- envy in Persian
- حسادت ورزیدن, رشک ورزیدن rašk varzidan
- envy in Thai
- ความริษยา kwaam-rít-sà-yǎa, ความอิจฉา kwaam-ìt-chǎa, ริษยา rít-sà-yǎa, อิจฉา ìt-chǎa
- envy in Vietnamese
- sự thèm muốn, sự ghen tị
- envy in Myanmar
- မစ္ဆရိယ machca.ri.ya., ဣဿာမစ္ဆရိယ i.ssamachca.ri.ya., အဘိဇ္ဇာ a.bhijja
Examples of envy in a sentence
- distilling therefrom an acid envy that robbed her napoleon of all its savour.1914, Louis Joseph Vance, Nobody, page 9:
- Theodorus assures Socrates that no envy will prevent the Stranger from responding1983, Stanley Rosen, Plato's Sophist: The Drama of Original and Image, page 66:
Antonyms of envy
Forms of envy
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | envies |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | envies |
| present participle | envying |
| past participle | envied |
| past | envied |
Origin of envy
From Middle English envie, from Old French envie, from Latin invidia (“envy”), from invidere (“to look at with malice”), from in- (“on, upon”) + videre (“to look, see”). Doublet of envie. Cognate to Proto-Slavic *zavistь (“envy”). Displaced native Old English æfest and Old English nīþ.
Words formed from envy
Phrases with envy
Questions about envy
- What does envy mean?
- Envy means resentful desire of something possessed by another or others (but not limited to material possessions).
- What is envy in Hindi?
- Envy in Hindi is ईर्ष्या (īrṣyā), जलन (jalan), रश्क (raśk). See Envy meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use envy in a sentence?
- distilling therefrom an acid envy that robbed her napoleon of all its savour.
- What part of speech is envy?
- Envy can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce envy?
- Envy is pronounced /ˈɛnvi/.
- What is the plural of envy?
- The plural of envy is envies.
Words near envy in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: envy (page history and authors); स्पर्धा (Marathi) (page history and authors); സ്പർധ (Malayalam) (page history and authors); ಕಿಚ್ಚು (Kannada) (page history and authors); envy (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); envy (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-uk-envy.ogg, En-us-envy.ogg.
Cite this entry: “envy.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/envy. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.