feature envy

noun

The situation where one class in a program makes excessive use of parts of other classes.

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Meanings

nounfeature envy (uncountable)
  1. uncountablecomputingThe situation where one class in a program makes excessive use of parts of other classes.

    A class with feature envy of another class means it is highly coupled to that class. Any change to the class being envied means it affects the class with the envy.

    2010, Peter Ritchie, Refactoring with Microsoft Visual Studio 2010, Packt Publishing Ltd, →ISBN
Cite this entry
APA

feature envy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/feature%20envy

MLA

“feature envy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/feature%20envy. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “feature envy,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/feature%20envy.

Source: feature envy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.