Definition of ENVY

envy

Meanings

Plural: envies

Noun

  • a feeling of grudging admiration and desire to have something that is possessed by another
  • spite and resentment at seeing the success of another (personified as one of the deadly sins)
  • Resentful desire of something possessed by another or others (but not limited to material possessions).
  • An object of envious notice or feeling.
  • Hatred, enmity, ill-feeling.
  • Emulation; rivalry.
  • Public odium; ill repute.
  • A red-skinned variety of eating apple.

Verb

  • feel envious towards; admire enviously
  • be envious of; set one's heart on
  • To feel displeasure or hatred towards (someone) for their good fortune or possessions.
  • To resentfully or discontentedly desire (something someone else has that one lacks).
  • To have envious feelings (at).
  • To give (something) to (someone) grudgingly or reluctantly; to begrudge.
  • To show malice or ill will; to rail.
  • To do harm to; to injure; to disparage.
  • To hate.
  • To emulate.

Origin / Etymology

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.

Antonyms

kindness

Scrabble Score: 10

envy is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL word
envy is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
envy is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 11

envy is a valid Words With Friends word