US /ˈɛnvi/
noun verb Freq #4896

Meanings

  1. 1
    noun

    A feeling of wanting something that someone else has.

    She looked at her friend's new car with envy.

  2. 2
    verb

    To wish you had what someone else has.

    I envy you for living so close to the beach.

  3. 3
    noun

    A person or thing that other people admire and wish they had.

    Their beautiful garden was the envy of the whole street.

Thesaurus

Opposites
Word family
Forms enviedenviesenvying
Derived forms enviousenvy-freeenvyfulenvyinglyenvysomeunenvying

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 and Old English nīþ.

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