What is the difference in meaning between the words “envy” and “Jealousy”?
This was selected as Best Answer Nice question. I agree with Julien above. ‘Envy’ relates to my desire to have or covet something that person X has – not necessarily an “ill-feeling” towards person X. ‘Jealousy’ relates to my resentment towards person X because he has something that I do not or does something that I cannot. ‘Jealousy’ could stem from ‘envy’. Note that ‘jealousy’ is not my desire to have that but my “ill-feeling” towards person X. One could be ‘envious’ without being ‘jealous’ – though one would have to try very hard 🙂 One could also be ‘jealous’ without being ‘envious’ – e.g. my feeling resentment towards someone who can paint very well … although I have no real desire to be a painter in the first place. Disclaimer – I am no real English language expert either – so i just might be horribly wrong in my understanding of the words. If my answer is misleading kindly excuse me for it.
