envious Hear it!

envious Definition

en·vi·ous (envē əs)

adjective

  1. characterized by envy; feeling, showing, or resulting from envy
  2. Obsolete
    1. emulous
    2. enviable

Etymology: ME < OFr envieus < L invidiosus < invidia, envy

envious Related Forms

en·vi·ously adverb en·vi·ous·ness noun

envious Synonyms

envious

modif.

  1. Having a jealous nature

    distrustful, suspicious, watchful; see jealous.

  2. Desiring a possession of another

    covetous, desirous, resentful, jealous, desiring, wishful, longing for, aspiring, greedy, grasping, craving, hankering, begrudging, grudging, jaundiced, green-eyed*, jaundice-eyed*, green with envy*.

    Antonyms generous*, gracious*, charitable.

envious Usage Examples

Preposition: of

  • people: I am actively envious of the two people I know who do.
  • man: It makes me envious of the man that has them all.

Modifying Another Word

  • quite: I feel quite envious actually, you can escape for weekends whenever you want to.
  • slightly: Most people were going all the way it seemed and we were slightly envious of them as we left the boat.
  • extremely: I think there will be at least 2 more orders as my fellow Xbox owners seem to be extremely envious.
  • little: We are allowed to be a little envious of the French.
  • very: I am afraid I have no photos - I am very envious of some of the photos you have on your site.
  • so: I am so envious but not enough to not say, " You lucky witch you.

Adjective complement with noun phrase

  • make: The tackle on his hook would have made donkeys envious worldwide.
  • feel: When England played Wales in Cardiff recently, I felt a bit envious of the Welsh who sang their own national anthem.

Modifies a noun

  • glance: Indeed the silliness of some of the hats drew envious glances from passing anglers, whose khaki bush hats were quite put to shame.
  • eye: His garden draws envious eyes, none greener than Mrs Frost's.
  • look: Meaning you can expect envious looks wherever you go â even in the executive lounge.
  • man: Christ knew that the envious man would sow tares.
  • one: Yes your colleagues might think you've gone a little crazy but they'll be the envious ones when you develop buns of steel.
  • people: What we thought were envious people disparagingly called us " the legal factory " .

Used with adjective complement

  • feel: I feel quite envious actually, you can escape for weekends whenever you want to.
  • become: Do not display your treasures or people will become envious.
  • get: It's very easy to get envious of someone elses ministry.
  • look: The shooter thing was great fun, actually, the girls were looking quite envious in the garden late this afternoon!