envious

comparative more envious · superlative most envious

1. Feeling or exhibiting envy; jealously desiring the excellence or good fortune of another; maliciously grudging.

   an envious man, disposition, or attack; envious tongues

   2 more examples

   Fret not thy ſelfe becauſe of euill doers, neither bee thou enuious againſt the workers of iniquitie.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 37:1

   My soul is envious of mine eye.

   1827, [John Keble], The Christian Year: Thoughts in Verse for the Sundays and Holydays throughout the Year, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] [B]y W. Baxter, for J. Parker; and C[harles] and J[ohn] Rivington, […], →OCLC

2. Excessively careful; cautious.

   for no man was ever so amorous, as to love a toad; none so envious, as to repine at the condition of the miserable

   1651, Jer[emy] Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Francis Ashe […], →OCLC

   Synonyms: overcautious

3. obsoleteMalignant; mischievous; spiteful.

   Each envious brier his weary legs doth scratch.

   1593, [William Shakespeare], Venus and Adonis, London: […] Richard Field, […], →OCLC

4. obsoletepoeticInspiring envy.

   He to him leapt, and that same envious gage / Of victors glory from him snatcht away.

   1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 39