covet

American  

[kuhv-it] / ˈkʌv ɪt /

verb (used with object)

• covets,
  present (3rd person singular)
• coveted,
  past participle,  past
• coveting
  present participle

1. to desire wrongfully, inordinately, or without due regard for the rights of others.

   to covet another's property.

   Antonyms:

   renounce

2. to wish for, especially eagerly.

   He won the prize they all coveted.

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verb (used without object)

• covets,
  present (3rd person singular)
• coveted,
  past participle,  past
• coveting
  present participle

1. to have an inordinate or wrongful desire.

covet British  

/ ˈkʌvɪt /

verb

1. to wish, long, or crave for (something, esp the property of another person)

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Synonym Usage

See envy.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• coveter
  noun
• covetable
  adjective
• uncoveting
  adjective
• covetingly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Participles

• coveting
  present
• coveted
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• covet
  simple
• covets
  simple
• have coveted
  perfect
• has coveted
  perfect
• am coveting
  progressive
• are coveting
  progressive
• is coveting
  progressive
• have been coveting
  perfect progressive
• has been coveting
  perfect progressive

Past

• coveted
  simple
• had coveted
  perfect
• was coveting
  progressive
• were coveting
  progressive
• had been coveting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will covet
  simple
• will have coveted
  perfect
• will be coveting
  progressive
• will have been coveting
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of covet

First recorded in 1325–1350; Middle English coveiten, from Anglo-French coveiter, Old French coveit(i)er, from unattested Vulgar Latin cupiditāre, verbal derivative of Latin cupiditās cupidity

Explanation

If you covet something, you eagerly desire something that someone else has. If it's 95 degrees out and humid, you may find yourself coveting your neighbor's air conditioner. If the word covet sounds familiar, you're thinking of the Tenth Commandment: "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor's." Basically this means you should be happy with your electronic gadgets and not be jealous when a friend gets something better.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

covet covets coveted coveting

All this puts it at the heart of Chinese and US economic interests and they actively covet it.

From Barron's ● Jun. 26, 2026

He is thought to covet the role of chancellor, having spent many years advising Gordon Brown in the Treasury under New Labour.

From BBC ● Jun. 19, 2026

For months, they’ve been signaling as if with a searchlight how much they covet the 6-foot-11 Greek forward.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 12, 2026

That has allowed the show to meet younger people where they are and to stay relevant with viewers in the 18-to-34 age bracket that advertisers covet.

From MarketWatch ● May 7, 2026

The matches are wooden ones, in a cardboard sliding-top box, the kind I used to covet in order to make dolls’ drawers out of them.

From "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood

Donald Trump has made clear he covets Greenland.

From BBC ● Jan. 23, 2026

Or, according to an erratic transactional logic in which force would no longer serve freedom but replace it, an allied nation: Denmark, whose Greenland he covets?

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 7, 2026

Prime Minister Keir Starmer's government covets Chinese investment to spur a struggling economy and is pondering a request from Beijing to build a controversial new embassy building in London.

From Barron's ● Oct. 13, 2025

Elsbeth’s jewelry is typically pared back, but she covets an $11-million flamingo brooch on display.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 7, 2024

She sighs like I'm bothering her and it's an imposition for her to tell me, but I know she covets the attention.

From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton

The Simon Fraser University pipe band won the coveted title following the two-day event at Glasgow Green.

From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026

Dior’s Hardcore era, with pierced bags from 20 years ago that are still deeply coveted.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026

A US energy exploration company has sparked an outcry by unloading drilling equipment without authorisation on the east coast of Greenland, the autonomous Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump.

From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 2026

Thanks to mid six-figure bonuses, engineers at Samsung and SK Hynix are as coveted as the memory chips AI companies need to build more data centers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026

She had first spotted it six months ago and coveted it instantly, but hadn’t had nearly enough gold.

From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell

But Fernandes is not one for coveting individual awards.

From BBC ● May 8, 2026

It was expensive, but worth every penny — a beautiful, abstract rendering of the film’s themes, displayed in a bewitching graphic style I couldn’t get out of my mind after coveting the poster online.

From Salon ● Apr. 17, 2026

Now he is vying for votes in a military-managed poll starting on Sunday, coveting the former seat of the country's best known political prisoner -- Aung San Suu Kyi.

From Barron's ● Dec. 23, 2025

Flipping channels, you might find Mr. Kelce baring his arm for a Pfizer Covid-19 shot, Mr. Mahomes hollering in support of a State Farm promotion or Mr. Reid coveting some chicken “nuggies.”

From New York Times ● Feb. 8, 2024

I wandered the mall, hitting the electronics spots, first Radio Shack, Best Buy, moving my way up to the Apple Store, coveting things I’d never be able to afford.

From "Burning Blue" by Paul Griffin

Related Words

• crave
• envy
• lust after