enviable
Americanadjective
adjective
Usage
What does enviable mean? Enviable means very desirable. It’s especially used to describe things that a person has and that other people want—or a person that other people want to be like. In other words, enviable means worthy of or likely to cause envy—a feeling of desire for something that someone else has and you do not. Envy is also a verb meaning to have feelings of envy toward someone, and enviable is formed from this verb. Envy is not a good feeling—it can be described as a mix of admiration and discontent. Enviable is often used to describe things that are so good that other people will naturally want them (and might even get a little envious or jealous). The opposite of enviable is unenviable, which is typically used to describe tasks or positions that no one wants, as in He was given the unenviable task of making sure everyone paid on time. Example: It’s an enviable position, with a lot of perks, so naturally we have many applicants.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of enviable
Explanation
Things that are enviable are so good that other people want them. People desire enviable things. Enviable things are so desirable that everybody wants them. A high-paying job is enviable. A vacation in the Caribbean is enviable. Winning the lottery is very enviable. Anytime someone does something impressive or buys something cool, it's likely to be described with the word enviable. Also, a sports team with a big lead could be described as being in an enviable position: other teams would like to be in their position.
Vocabulary lists containing enviable
Vocabulary from "John L. O'Sullivan on 'Manifest Destiny' " from 1839
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Vocabulary from Woodrow Wilson's "Fourteen Points" (1918)
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6.1: Origins and Outcomes of World War I in Global Context (Sources 1–8)
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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.
Your $345,000 in annual pension income puts you in an unusual, if enviable position.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 2, 2026
Domingo’s own midlife — conversations about fiber and the proliferation of readers in every room aside — is enviable.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026
A friend had recently posted photographs from Barcelona, including several enviable angles of pan con tomate.
From Salon ● Aug. 1, 2026
The enviable compound of ideology, economics and democracy that has produced this country’s foreign policy has, by the 21st century, enabled American political ideas to make “deep inroads into the political life of the planet.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
Chester, the boy who prowled the quarter with such enviable cheer.
From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead
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.
