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Jealousy vs. Envy
Depending on who you ask, jealousy and envy are either exact synonyms, totally different words, or near-synonyms with some degree of semantic overlap and some differences. It is difficult to make the case, based on the evidence of usage that we have, for either of the first two possibilities. Both jealousy and envy are often used to indicate that a person is covetous of something that someone else has, but jealousy carries the particular sense of “zealous vigilance” and tends to be applied more exclusively to feelings of protectiveness regarding one’s own advantages or attachments. In the domain of romance, it is more commonly found than envy. If you were to say “your salt-shaker collection fills me with jealousy,” most people would take it to mean much the same thing as “your salt-shaker collection fills me with envy.” But if someone made a flirtatious comment to your partner, you would likely say that it caused you jealousy, not envy.
Examples of jealousy in a Sentence
Aramide Tinubu, Variety, 8 May 2026
Over time, my jealousy came to light.
—Katie Gavin, Time, 8 May 2026
There's everything from resentment to jealousy, favouritism, and deceit swirling around in a boiling-hot cauldron where fair is foul and foul is fair.
—Sergio Pereira, Space.com, 6 May 2026
Enter Grace Li, the group’s essential frenemy, held up by their parents as the model student and golden child, and thus a decades-long source of jealousy and resentment.
—Erik Pedersen, Oc Register, 1 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for jealousy
Cite this Entry
“Jealousy.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jealousy. Accessed 11 May. 2026.
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jealousy
noun
