When your better half tells you their ex , whom they have n’t look in years , is come to town , you graciously offer to host them for dinner . After time of day of witness their obvious chemical science on full showing , you start to find a little sick at ease — which you ’d most likely identify as jealousy , rather than invidia .
As Merriam - Webster explains , that ’s because we usually apply the wordjealousyto key the worry that someone is coming for what ’s yours . enviousness , on the other hand , refer to the polar scenario : when you require something that belong to someone else .
But it ’s not quite that elementary . For one thing , jealousycan also function as a equivalent word forenvy . If your neighbour own an extremely valuableBeanie Baby ingathering , and you famously love Beanie Babies ( ormoney ) , you might say you ’re envious of your neighbor — or , you might say you ’re jealous .
moreover , as psychological science Todaypoints out , jealousy is often accompanied by envy . Or rather , it ’s envy that sometimes causes you to become jealous . Say , for example , your recently engaged best friend asks you to be her maid - of - honor . Over the path of severalwedding - bear on events , you substantiate that your expert admirer seems to be favour one of herbridesmaids — an exceptionally glamourous , loaded , thoughtful , and seemingly hone newer friend — over you . So you start to feel jealous . The reason for your jealousy , however , is because you envy this woman ’s qualities , and you envy the attention she ’s getting from your best admirer . ( And yes , we ’re describing the plot of 2011’sBridesmaids ) .
In other words , green-eyed monster is more readily associated with territoriality , rivalry , and/or betrayal than envy is . But if you unpack the office a little , you might find envy there , too .
[ h / tMerriam - Webster ]
Have you got a Big Question you ’d wish us to answer ? If so , let us get it on by emailing us atbigquestions@mentalfloss.com .
