Differences in Envy and Jealousy

Usage of words in writing needs to be carefully considered if the meanings of the words are very similar. The origin of the word "jealousy" dates back to between 1175 and 1225 B.C., and the origin of the word "envy" is between 1250 to 1300, according to the DifferenceBetween.net website. Both words derive from Middle English but notice that the word "envy" was created later than the word "jealousy." This suggests that the word "envy" was needed to clarify the concepts and meanings that people wanted to convey. The definitions of the two words may overlap but they do both imply subtly different ideas.

Envy can be as benign as just wishing you had the dessert your friend is eating.

Envy is the desire for something that belongs to someone else. It is a feeling of resentment over someone else's possessions or achievements. An example of the usage of the word "envy" is: "Gary was envious of Mark's new car" or "Julie could see envy in the eyes of her friends as she walked into the party wearing her new dress."

Jealousy of others makes a person feel resentful and hostile.

Jealousy means to be suspicious and resentful of a rival or rivalry in general. Jealously may manifest itself in the close guarding of a person or possessions in order to keep them. It also can mean that a person feels hostility to the advantages or good fortune of others. An example of jealousy in a sentence is: "Julie was jealous that Mark had chosen Hannah instead of her to dance" or "Gary knew that Julie was seeing Mark behind his back; he could feel the jealousy rising within him when he saw them together."

There is a more malignant element to jealousy than envy.

"Envy" and "jealousy" are often used as synonyms, but they do not possess exactly the same meaning. To grasp the nuance in these two words, it is important to remember that envy is a covetousness of things that you do not have, whereas jealousy is often shown when trying to hold onto something you already possess. The general difference is that if someone is envious it is not necessarily with a hostile or bad feeling, whereas jealousy implies a resentment, a feeling that it is not fair in some way.

When choosing to use the words "envy" and "jealousy" in your writing or speech, carefully consider what you are trying to convey.

Jealousy can seem much like envy in a sentence such as "Mark was jealous that Gary could afford the latest mobile phone." When writing or saying a sentence of this kind, you need to consider whether Mark feels envious, which implies that he just wishes he had the new phone or does he feel actual jealousy that Mark is better than him in some way. Look at how it is applied here: "John was jealous of Mark's way with women" or "John was envious of Mark's mobile phone." John is less likely to be considered jealous of an object, but he could be considered jealous of Mark's way with women.

Jealousy and Envy
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CHAPTER 18 Jealousy and Envy GORDON CLANTON Human emotions are socially constructed (Berger and Luckmann 1966). Emotions are shaped by social processes
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uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100701111912AATDT9qLast updated: Jul 02, 2010 9 posts First post: Jul 01, 2010
Jul 01, 2010 Best Answer: Although sometimes used synonymously, envy and jealousy have different meanings. Many people use the words jealousy and envy
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Jealousy or Envy I think we make the mistake of mixing up the two words.
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What's the difference between Envy and Jealousy? The main difference between envy and jealousy is that envy is an emotion related to coveting what someone else
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My friend Grace is a massage therapist. Long ago, she got her masters degree in psychology. In her studies, she did a research project on jealousy and envy.