envy

«envy» in Mova's school dictionary: the unhappy feeling of wanting something that someone… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (envy, uncountable); verb (envy, envies, envied, envying)

meaning for a pupil

1) Envy is the unhappy feeling of wanting something that someone else has, like their toys, skills or luck. tree →

2) To envy someone is to wish you had what they have. tree →

3) Someone or something that is «the envy of» others is admired and wanted by them. tree →

4) (church) Envy is one of the seven deadly sins in Christian teaching. tree →

sense in the lessons

In ethics and stories, envy is a feeling that can make people unkind or jealous; fairy tales like Snow White show its harm. In everyday talk «I envy you» can also be friendly: «I envy your holiday!». Phrases: «green with envy», «the envy of the class», «full of envy», «I don't envy you» (I would not like to be in your place).

examples

• She felt envy when her friend got a new bike. tree →
• I envy you; you get to go to the beach! tree →
• The queen was green with envy of Snow White's beauty. tree →
• Our new playground is the envy of other schools. tree →
• I don't envy him; he has three tests tomorrow. tree →
• Christians list envy among the seven deadly sins. tree →
• He tried to turn his envy into hard work. tree →
• Ducks have strong passions, whether they feel envy or pity. tree →

note

Noun (uncountable) and verb; past «envied». Adjective: envious. Envy vs jealousy: envy is wanting what another has; jealousy is often fear of losing what you have (but people often mix them). «Green with envy» is an idiom; nobody turns green.

In the corpora

• Greed is wanting more than your share; envy is being sore that someone else has something good.
• Envy can make you say mean things you do not really believe, like calling something ugly because you want it.
• Envy whispers that someone else's good thing is taken from you.
• Feeling envy is normal; acting on it to hurt someone is the wrong part.
• Every family set-up has good bits and hard bits; kids from big and small families often envy each other.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «envy» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.