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enviously

enviously

2 3.3
In a way that shows you want what someone else has
  • adverb
  • /ˈɛnviəsli/
translation icon : envidiosamente
  • Always, other lovers walking nearby looked at them enviously.

He says even the most inspired age insists on joking enviously about excellence.

Examples

  • A child, a living child, was staring enviously at the dog.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • Back at Princeton, he enviously savored the literary past of Oxford and Cambridge.

    Academic text (1990)
  • And many of us were left enviously reading the papers of you and your your group.

  • And for years, I wanted to believe we were as lucky as they enviously thought we were.

    Fiction book (1996)
  • Only a husband and wife who both earned professional wages could afford such a flat, thought the teacher enviously.

    Fiction book (2002)
  • Slowing without conscious thought, Summer watched enviously as the couple crossed a small, decorative bridge that led to the lodge's parking lot.

    Fiction book (1995)
  • Jackson glanced at his own flimsy paper gown, then enviously at the man's uniform.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • Alex's father, Ken Browning, 48, appears, leaning against the door threshold, smiling enviously at his son.

    Fiction book (2000)
  • Birch stopped and watched enviously behind the cover of the crowd as Ellis was embraced—and kissed—by his father.

    Fiction book (1992)
  • Yellow Bird looked enviously at his cousin and Snow Bird.

Synonyms

jealously
vsenviously
7 4.1

In a way that shows anger and protectiveness because someone else has something you want

shows a wish for others' things or success without possessive action
green with envy
vsenviously
  • Informal
5 4.5

Feeling very jealous because someone has something you want

expresses milder desire or resentment about others' advantages
covetously
vsenviously
8.2

Wanting strongly to have something that belongs to someone else

covers wanting others' things, qualities, or success rather than only possessions

How Envious

jealously
7 4.1
enviously
2 3.3
longingly
7 4.5

Surface Forms

enviously positive
enviouserly comparative
envioustly superlative

Morphology

enviously = envious (transparent) = envy + ous + ly

Formed by the regular adverbial suffix '-ly' added to the adjective 'envious', a standard and transparent derivation.

Etymology

The word enviously comes from the simple noun envy, which comes from an old Latin idea of 'to look at someone with a bad wish'. So, to act enviously is to show you want what someone else has and feel jealous.