resentful
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of resentful
Explanation
If you are resentful of someone, you feel ill will toward him, mixed with envy, like when a newer coworker gets the promotion you've been working toward for years. The verb resent comes from the word for "feeling," but we only use it to talk about bad, stinging feelings. You might resent having to work late, but if your boss pays you a higher wage for overtime, maybe you’ll be less resentful. When there are clear inequalities among people, it often makes them resentful. Someone who wears themselves out doing heavy labor might be resentful of their boss who never breaks a sweat but earns more money.
Vocabulary lists containing resentful
In the Mood? 100 Words to Describe Emotions
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The Breadwinner
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ACT Reading Test: Words to Capture Tone, List 3
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Resentful and bitter over his lot, he is willing to gamble on this path, which he knows is a cheat, and bring her along with him into the aftermath.
From Salon • Oct. 19, 2022
Resentful: How about that your husband spent 40-plus years wrestling with his mother’s preoccupation with appearances so you don’t have to.
From Washington Post • Jan. 17, 2022
Q. Resentful and hating it: I am single, and I do not have children.
From Slate • Oct. 26, 2020
Resentful that he and his family were forced to stifle their superpowers, he spent much of the first movie railing against a society that seemed inclined to celebrate and encourage mediocrity at every turn.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 4, 2018
Resentful of her power, my spirit chafed Against its own deep pity, as though it were Raised ghost and she the witch had bid it haunt me.
From Miscellany of Poetry 1919 by Seymour, W. Kean
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
