# envy

Pronunciation: say "EN-vee" /ˈɛnvi/

## Noun

1. Resentful desire for something that belongs to someone else, whether a material possession or something less tangible.
   - Simple: A bad, unhappy feeling of wanting something that another person has.
   - _Her rapid promotion stirred quiet envy among her colleagues._
   - _He watched the couple's easy happiness with an envy he was ashamed of._
4. Someone or something that draws envious attention or feeling from others.
   - Simple: A person or thing that other people wish they had or could be like.
   - _The city's subway system is the envy of planners across the country._
   - _His effortless French made him the envy of everyone in the exchange program._
5. A variety of eating apple with red skin.
   - Simple: A kind of apple with red skin that is good for eating.
   - _The farm stand sells Envy by the pound next to two other red varieties._
   - _He sliced an Envy into thin wedges for the cheese plate._

## Verb

2. To desire, with resentment or discontent, something that someone else has and one lacks.
   - Simple: To wish you had something that another person has, and feel unhappy that you don't.
   - _Writers often envy the freedom that painters seem to enjoy._
   - _Stuck indoors with a cold, she envied the easy health of everyone passing her window._
3. To begrudge someone their luck or what they own, feeling resentment or even hatred toward them.
   - Simple: To feel unhappy with someone, or even hate them, because of their good luck or what they own.
   - _Some of the older players envied the rookie for his sudden fame and his huge contract._
   - _It is easy to envy people whose lives look perfect online._

## Verb

6. To give something to someone grudgingly or reluctantly. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To give something to someone only unwillingly, wishing you did not have to.
   - _A stingy landlord, he seemed to envy his tenants even the heat he was obliged to provide._
   - _The general envied his officers every word of praise and handed it out as rarely as he could._
10. To have envious feelings about something, with at introducing what is envied. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To feel jealous about what others have (used with at).
11. To show malice or ill will toward others, or to rail against them. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To show hate toward someone, or to speak against them angrily.
12. To harm or injure someone, or to disparage them. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To hurt someone, or to say bad things about them to harm their name.
13. To feel hatred toward someone or something. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To feel hate toward someone or something.
14. To try to equal or rival another, especially by imitating them. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To copy someone you admire and try to be as good as they are.

## Noun

7. Hatred or hostility; ill feeling toward another person or group. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Hate or bad feeling toward another person or group.
8. The drive to equal or outdo another person; emulation or rivalry. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Trying to be as good as someone else, or to beat them.
9. Public hatred or contempt directed at someone; a bad reputation. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Being strongly disliked by the public, or having a bad name.

## Origin

From Middle English envie, from Old French envie, from Latin invidia ("envy"), from invidere ("to look at with malice"), formed from in- ("on, upon") + videre ("to look, see"). It is a doublet of envie, is cognate with Proto-Slavic *zavistь ("envy"), and replaced the native Old English word æfest.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/envy (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).