From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishenvyen‧vy1 /ˈenvi/ ●●○ verb (envied, envying, envies) [transitive] 1 JEALOUSto wish that you had someone else’s possessions, abilities etc I really envy you and Ian, you seem so happy together. She has a lifestyle which most people would envy.envy somebody something He envied Rosalind her youth and strength.2 → I don’t envy you/her etc→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
envy• You've always been very close to them - in fact, it's one of the things I envied about you.• Everyone in the neighborhood envied Bob Green's expensive new luxury car.• I envied her. She looked so calm and capable.• How I envy him his focus and how I mourn for him his loss.• I envied him his freedom to do or say what he wanted.• I am envying him, thought Cameron sardonically.• He always envied his brother for the way he made friends so easily.• Not that a one of them envied his freedom, consciously.• No longer need he envy his long-dead friend, Martin Fenlon, for having saved the soul of an unrepentant sinner.• She couldn't help envying Perdita.• I love watching the kids romp and in fact as I watch them I realize how much I envy them.envyenvy2 ●○○ noun [uncountable] 1 JEALOUSthe feeling of wanting something that someone else has → jealousywith envy He watched the others with envy.envy of his envy of the young man’s successtwinge/pang of envy I felt a twinge of envy when I saw them together. She could see that all the other girls were green with envy (=feeling a lot of envy).2 → be the envy of somebodyExamples from the Corpus
envy• But it isn't easy to be envied, any more than it is to feel envy.• And the second feeling is one of extreme envy at their apparent cosiness.• It was difficult to hide her envy as Jim described his new job.• She walked with a nose-up sprocket-hipped model-girl gait calculated to provoke maximum envy and resentment.• What I felt as she stood there, waiting for further instructions from Sister Mary, was a moment of envy.• She's aye the envy of every other girl on the island.• The country has a low crime rate that is the envy of most other countries.• I was consumed with envy of the young men and women who drifted together through the streets.• Coupled with envy was a terrible sense of inferiority.• Before you get green with envy, I had to do a lot of stuff that wasn't so glamorous, too.• He stared with envy at Robert's new car.twinge/pang of envy• Carew felt a twinge of envy.• Romanov felt a twinge of envy at the thought that he could never hope to live in such style.• Thrilled by the beauty of the scene, she had sometimes felt a twinge of envy for the people on board.• Certainly not, say 61%, although 23% admit to an occasional twinge of envy.• Theda felt shabby by contrast, and was hit by a passing pang of envy.Origin envy2 (1200-1300) Old French envie, from Latin invidia, from invidere “to look at with bad feelings”, from videre “to see” 