Envy Meaning
/ˈɛnvi/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounResentful desire of something possessed by another or others (but not limited to material possessions).
nounAn object of envious notice or feeling.
Sentence Examples
Your success excites my envy.
I envy you your luck.
Anne is the envy of all her friends.
CEFR Practice Quiz
She felt a pang of ____ when she saw her friend's new car.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Their perfect relationship was the ____ of everyone in the neighborhood.
Word Origin & History
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.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"No bliss enjoyed by us excites his envy more."
— 1667, John Milton, “(please specify the page number)”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 263–264:
"Envy, to which the ignoble mind's a slave,
Is emulation in the learned or brave."
— 1804, Alexander Pope, The Poetical Works of Alexander Pope, page 71:
"distilling therefrom an acid envy that robbed her napoleon of all its savour."
— 1914, Louis Joseph Vance, Nobody, page 9:
"Theodorus assures Socrates that no envy will prevent the Stranger from responding"
— 1983, Stanley Rosen, Plato's Sophist: The Drama of Original and Image, page 66:
"This constitution in former days used to be the envy of the world[.]"
— 1843, Thomas Macaulay, Critical and Miscellaneous Essays, Carey & Hart, page 277:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
She felt a pang of ____ when she saw her friend's new car.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Their perfect relationship was the ____ of everyone in the neighborhood.