envy

Definition

Resentful desire of something possessed by another or others (but not limited to material possessions).

Etymology

Etymology tree Old French enviebor. Middle English envie English 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.

Example Sentences

• "No bliss enjoyed by us excites his envy more."
• "Envy, to which the ignoble mind's a slave, Is emulation in the learned or brave."
• "distilling therefrom an acid envy that robbed her napoleon of all its savour."