Jealous vs Spite - What's the difference?
jealous | spite |
Suspecting rivalry in love; troubled by worries that one might have been replaced in someone's affections; suspicious of a lover or spouse's fidelity.
Protective, zealously guarding, careful in the protection of something one has or appreciates.
Envious; feeling resentful of someone for a perceived advantage, material or otherwise.
* 1891 , Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray
* 1899 , Mark Twain, The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg
Suspecting, suspicious.
* 1823 , Walter Scott, Quentin Durward
1.2 1.2 Envy vs. Jealousy However, this distinction is not reflected in usage, as reflected in the quotations of famous authors (above) using the word ' jealous in the sense “envious (of the possessions of others)”.
Ill will or hatred toward another, accompanied with the disposition to irritate, annoy, or thwart; a desire to vex or injure; petty malice; grudge; rancor.
* Shakespeare
(obsolete) Vexation; chagrin; mortification.
To treat maliciously; to try to injure or thwart.
(obsolete) To be angry at; to hate.
To fill with spite; to offend; to vex.
As an adjective jealous
is suspecting rivalry in love; troubled by worries that one might have been replaced in someone's affections; suspicious of a lover or spouse's fidelity.As a noun spite is
ill will or hatred toward another, accompanied with the disposition to irritate, annoy, or thwart; a desire to vex or injure; petty malice; grudge; rancor.As a verb spite is
to treat maliciously; to try to injure or thwart.As a preposition spite is
notwithstanding; despite.jealous
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- For you must not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. —Exodus 34:14 (NET)
- I am jealous of everything whose beauty does not die.
- The neighbouring towns were jealous of this honourable supremacy.
- At length [...] the Duke demanded to know of Durward who his guide was, [...] and wherefore he had been led to entertain suspicion of him. To the first of these questions Quentin Durward answered by naming Hayraddin Maugrabin, the Bohemian; [...] and in reply to the third point he mentioned what had happened in the Franciscan convent near Namur, how the Bohemian had been expelled from the holy house, and how, jealous of his behaviour, he had dogged him to a rendezvous with one of William de la Marck's lanzknechts, where he overheard them arrange a plan for surprising the ladies who were under his protection.
Usage notes
Some usage guides seek to distinguish "jealous" from “envious”, using jealous' to mean “protective of one’s ''own'' position or possessions” – one “jealously ''guards'' what one has” – and ''envious'' to mean “desirous of ''others’'' position or possessions” – one “''envies'' what others have”. “Envious/Jealous]”, Paul Brians, ''[http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/book.html Common Errors in English Usage]''This distinction is also maintained in the psychological and philosophical literature.See [http://plato.stanford.edu/ Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy], [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/envy/ Envy], [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/envy/
Derived terms
* jealously adverb * jealousy noun * jealousness nounReferences
Anagrams
*spite
English
Etymology 1
From a shortening of (etyl) despit, from (etyl) despit (whence despite). Compare also Dutch spijt.Noun
(en-noun)- He was so filled with spite for his ex-wife, he could not hold down a job.
- They did it just for spite .
- This is the deadly spite that angers.
- "The time is out of joint: O cursed spite." Shakespeare, Hamlet
Verb
(spit)- She soon married again, to spite her ex-husband.
- The Danes, then pagans, spited places of religion. — Fuller.
- Darius, spited at the Magi, endeavoured to abolish not only their learning, but their language. — Sir. W. Temple.