jealous

To be jealous is to feel resentment, bitterness, or hostility toward someone because they have something that you don’t.

This feeling or the state of feeling this way is called jealousy. Jealous can describe someone who is feeling or is prone to jealousy. It can also be used to describe such a person’s thoughts or actions.

Feeling jealous usually occurs as a result of someone owning something you want but can’t have or having achieved some kind of success that you want to achieve but have not been able to.

This sense of jealous is very similar in meaning to envious. The word envy refers to a mostly negative feeling of desire for something that someone else has and you do not—like a mix of admiration and discontent. However, while envy is not necessarily malicious, jealousy usually implies a deeper resentment, perhaps because you feel that you deserve the thing more than the other person, or that it is unfair that they have it and you don’t.

Jealous is also used in the context of romantic relationships to describe someone who feels hostility, uneasiness, or distress relating to the fear that their romantic partner will be unfaithful. This often involves opposition to others giving one’s partner positive attention. Being jealous in this way is considered very unhealthy in a relationship. The word is often used applied to partners who act this way, as in jealous husband or jealous girlfriend.

Sometimes, jealous can mean vigilant in maintaining or guarding something. This sense of the word is often used in adverb form, as in The dragon jealously guarded the treasure. 

Example: If your friends feel jealous of you because of your success, they may not be your friends.

The first records of the word jealous come from around 1200. It ultimately derives from the Greek zēlos, meaning “zeal” (enthusiastic devotion). The words zeal and zealous are based on the same root.

Being jealous usually involves coveting (greedily desiring) what someone else has, such as material possessions, success, fame—even a romantic partner. In the context of romantic relationships, though, being jealous involves feeling the need to intensely guard access to one’s partner in order to prevent perceived threats to the relationship.

In his play Othello, Shakespeare famously calls jealousy a green-eyed monster, which is a way of saying that being jealous is unhealthy and can eat away at you.

What are some other forms related to jealous?

• jealously (adverb)
• jealousness (noun)
• jealousy (noun)

What are some synonyms for jealous?

• covetous

What are some words that share a root or word element with jealous? 

• zeal
• zealous

What are some words that often get used in discussing jealous?

• have
• resentment
• covet
• possession
• success
• own
• feeling
• relationship
• suspicion 
• sin

What are some words jealous may be commonly confused with?

• envious

Being jealous commonly involves resentment relating to possessions, success, and romantic partners.

Try Not To Be Jealous Of What Others Have. Work Hard And You Can Achieve It For Yourself.. 😌🙏🏻💯

— Ryan Mason (@RyanMason77) March 2, 2016

I’ve never been the jealous “friend” I wanna see everyone winning, even if it’s before me.

— A✨ (@AaeMae) October 22, 2020

Bond: "Who'd want to put a contract on me?"
M: "Jealous husbands. Outraged chefs. Humiliated tailors. The list is endless!"
One of my favorite moments from The Man with the Golden Gun.

— Krista K. Thomason (@kkthomason) April 26, 2020

True or False? 

Feeling jealous is usually considered a negative and unhealthy feeling.