Envy

Pronunciation

• UK enPR: Ä•n'vÄ“, IPA: /ˈɛnviː/

Origin

From Middle English envie, from Old French envie, from Latin invidia ("envy"), from invidere ("to look at with malice") from in + videre ("on, upon" + "to look, see"). Displaced native Middle English ande, onde ("envy") (from Old English anda, onda ("breath, emotion, envy, hatred, grudge, dislike")), Middle English nithe, nith ("envy, malice") (from Old English nīþ ("envy, hatred, malice, spite, jealousy")).

Full definition of envy

Noun

1. Resentful desire of something possessed by another or others (but not limited to material possessions). from 13th c.
• John Milton (1608-1674)No bliss enjoyed by us excites his envy more.
• Alexander Pope (1688-1744)Envy, to which the ignoble mind's a slave,
  Is emulation in the learned or brave.
• 1914, Louis Joseph Vance, Nobody Chapter 1, Little disappointed, then, she turned attention to "Chat of the Social World," gossip which exercised potent fascination upon the girl's intelligence. She devoured with more avidity than she had her food those pretentiously phrased chronicles of the snobocracy … distilling therefrom an acid envy that robbed her napoleon of all its savour.
• 1983. ROSEN, Stanley. Plato’s Sophist. p. 66.Theodorus assures Socrates that no envy will prevent the Stranger from responding
2. An object of envious notice or feeling.
• Thomas Macaulay (1800-1859)This constitution in former days used to be the envy of the world.
3. (obsolete) Hatred, enmity, ill-feeling. 14th-18th c.
• 1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur, Book X:‘Sir,’ seyde Sir Launcelot unto Kynge Arthur, ‘by this cry that ye have made ye woll put us that bene aboute you in grete jouparté, for there be many knyghtes that hath envy to us ....’
• 1598, William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part 1: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.
4. (obsolete) Emulation; rivalry.
• John Ford (1586-c.1639)Such as cleanliness and decency
  Prompt to a virtuous envy.
5. (obsolete) Public odium; ill repute.
• Ben Jonson (1572-1637)to lay the envy of the war upon Cicero

Verb

1. (transitive) To feel displeasure or hatred towards (someone) for their good fortune or possessions. from 14th c.
2. (obsolete, intransitive) To have envious feelings (at). 15th-18th c.
• 1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, II.3.3:I do not envy at their wealth, titles, offices; ... let me live quiet and at ease.
3. Who would envy at the prosperity of the wicked? — Jeremy Taylor.
4. (obsolete, transitive) To give (something) to (someone) grudgingly or reluctantly; to begrudge. 16th-18th c.
• 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.v:But that sweet Cordiall, which can restore
  A loue-sick hart, she did to him enuy ....
5. (obsolete) To show malice or ill will; to rail.He has ... envied against the people. — Shakespeare.
6. (obsolete) To do harm to; to injure; to disparage.
• J. FletcherIf I make a lie
  To gain your love and envy my best mistress,
  Put me against a wall.
7. (obsolete) To hate.
8. (obsolete) To emulate.

Related terms

• envious