Envy vs jealousy: what’s the difference?
Envy is wanting what someone else has, such as their success, looks or belongings. Jealousy usually means fearing you will lose someone or something to a rival, often mixed with suspicion or resentment. In everyday English, jealous is also used to mean envious, so treat the difference as a strong tendency.
envy
noun and verb
An unhappy wish for something that belongs to someone else, such as their luck, skill or possessions. As a verb, to feel this way about someone or what they have.
“Every time Priya posted photos from her year in Lisbon, I felt a small pang of envy.”
jealousy
noun
A worried, resentful feeling that a rival might take away someone or something you value, especially a partner’s affection.
“Sam’s jealousy flared whenever his wife laughed at her new colleague’s jokes.”
How to choose
Use envy for wanting what belongs to someone else: a colleague’s promotion, a friend’s easy confidence, a neighbour’s garden. It has two sides: you and whoever has what you lack. Envy can be light and almost admiring, as in “I envy your patience”, or turn bitter.
Use jealousy when there are three sides: you, someone or something you value, and a rival who seems to threaten it. Romantic jealousy is the classic case, but a small child can be jealous of a new baby, or a colleague of a newcomer who becomes the manager’s favourite. Jealous also has a protective sense: a jealously guarded secret, or being jealous of your privacy.
In everyday speech, “I’m so jealous” often means “I envy you”: “You’re off to Rome? I’m jealous.” This long-established use is widely accepted, not a mistake. When you want to be precise, especially in writing about feelings, keep envy for wanting and jealousy for guarding. Grammar helps too. Envy is also a verb (“I envy you”, or even “I envy you your calm”), but jealousy is only a noun, so you say “I’m jealous of him”.
| Situation | Better word | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Wishing you had a friend’s talent for languages | envy | You want something that belongs to someone else. |
| Worrying that your partner prefers someone else’s company | jealousy | You fear losing someone you love to a rival. |
| A toddler upset that the new baby gets all the cuddles | jealousy | The child fears losing attention to a newcomer. |
| Seeing a neighbour’s new bike and wishing it were yours | envy | Nobody is taking anything from you. You simply want what they have. |
Similar words worth knowing
- Covet means to want something very much, especially something that belongs to someone else. It sounds formal, and a coveted prize is one many people want.
- Begrudge means to resent someone having something, or to give something unwillingly. It is often used in the negative, to say someone fully deserves their good luck.
- Resentment is a bitter feeling about something you think is unfair. Envy and jealousy can both contain it, but it needs neither a rival nor a wish for what someone else has.
- Possessive means wanting to keep someone or something entirely to yourself. It often describes jealous behaviour.
Play: envy or jealousy?
Three sentences. Pick the word that fits, then see why.
Envy or jealousy
1 / 3“Ben reads his girlfriend’s messages whenever she goes out without him. His ____ is starting to damage their relationship.”
Check the answer
Jealousy. He is afraid of losing her to someone else. Nothing here is about wanting what another person has.
“Honestly, I ____ you. You can fall asleep anywhere, even on a noisy train.”
Check the answer
Envy. The gap needs a verb, and jealousy is only a noun. Using jealous, you would say “I’m jealous of you” instead.
“With its tomatoes, beans and sunflowers, her front garden was the ____ of the whole street.”
Check the answer
Envy. To be “the envy of” people means to be something they all wish they had. “The jealousy of the whole street” would not make sense here.
Your score
Practise choices like this
arcoco’s games ask you to choose between close pairs like this one. Try the five-round word game on our homepage, or see how arcoco works. We make arcoco; the examples on this page were written for it, not taken from the app.
For full dictionary entries, see Cambridge Dictionary for envy and jealousy.