Wish vs Envy - What's the difference?
wish | envy |
a desire, hope, or longing for something or for something to happen
an expression of such a desire etc.
the process of expressing or thinking about such a desire etc. (often connected with ideas of magic and supernatural power(s)
the thing desired or longed for
* 1901 , , (w, The Monkey's Paw)
(Sussex) a water meadow.
(label) To desire; to want.
* (William Shakespeare)
*
, passage=Yesterday, upon the stair / I met a man who wasn’t there / He wasn’t there again today / I wish', I ' wish he’d go away …}}
To hope (for a particular outcome).
* (John Arbuthnot) (1667-1735)
* 1901 , , (w, The Monkey's Paw)
To bestow (a thought or gesture) towards (someone or something).
* (William Shakespeare)
* Bible, (Psalms) xl. 14
To request or desire to do an activity.
* {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author=(Henry Petroski)
, title= (label) To recommend; to seek confidence or favour on behalf of.
* (Ben Jonson)
Resentful desire of something possessed by another or others (but not limited to material possessions).
*(John Milton) (1608-1674)
*:No bliss enjoyed by us excites his envy more.
*(Alexander Pope) (1688-1744)
*:Envy , to which the ignoble mind's a slave, / Is emulation in the learned or brave.
*
*:Little disappointed, then, she turned attention to "Chat of the Social World," gossip which exercised potent fascination upon the girl's intelligence. She devoured with more avidity than she had her food those pretentiously phrased chronicles of the snobocracydistilling therefrom an acid envy that robbed her napoleon of all its savour.
*1983 , (Stanley Rosen), Plato’s Sophist , p.66:
*:Theodorus assures Socrates that no envy will prevent the Stranger from responding
An object of envious notice or feeling.
* (1800-1859)
*:This constitution in former days used to be the envy of the world.
(lb) Hatred, enmity, ill-feeling.
*:
*:Syre said la?celot vnto Arthur by this crye that ye haue made ye wyll put vs that ben aboute yow in grete Ieopardy / for there be many Knyghtes that haue grete enuye to vs / therfore whan we shal mete at the daye of Iustes there wille be hard skyfte amonge vs
*1598 , (William Shakespeare), :
*:But let me tell the World, / If he out-liue the enuie of this day, / England did neuer owe so sweet a hope, / So much misconstrued in his Wantonnesse.
(lb) Emulation; rivalry.
* (1586-c.1639)
*:Such as cleanliness and decency / Prompt to a virtuous envy .
(lb) Public odium; ill repute.
*(Ben Jonson) (1572-1637)
*:to lay the envy of the war upon Cicero
To feel displeasure or hatred towards (someone) for their good fortune or possessions.
(obsolete) To have envious feelings (at).
*, II.3.3:
*Jeremy Taylor:
(obsolete) To give (something) to (someone) grudgingly or reluctantly; to begrudge.
* 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , III.v:
(obsolete) To show malice or ill will; to rail.
*Shakespeare:
(obsolete) To do harm to; to injure; to disparage.
* J. Fletcher
(obsolete) To hate.
(obsolete) To emulate.
As nouns the difference between wish and envy
is that wish is a desire, hope, or longing for something or for something to happen while envy is resentful desire of something possessed by another or others (but not limited to material possessions).As verbs the difference between wish and envy
is that wish is (label) to desire; to want while envy is to feel displeasure or hatred towards (someone) for their good fortune or possessions.wish
English
Noun
(es)- Your dearest wish will come true.
- "I suppose all old soldiers are the same," said Mrs White. "The idea of our listening to such nonsense! How could wishes be granted in these days? And if they could, how could two hundred pounds hurt you, father?" / "Might drop on his head from the sky," said the frivolous Herbert.
Usage notes
* Collocates with make for the common expression make a wish . SeeDerived terms
(Terms derived from the noun "wish") * death wish * best wishes * good wishes * make a wish * wishbone * wishful * wish list/wishlist/wish-list * your wish is my commandSee also
* precatory * velleityVerb
(es)- I would not wish / Any companion in the world but you.
- This is as good an argument as an antiquary could wish for.
- Mr. White took the paw from his pocket and eyed it dubiously. "I don't know what to wish for, and that's a fact," he said slowly. "It seems to me I've got all I want."
- I would not wish them to a fairer death.
- Let them be driven backward, and put to shame, that wish me evil.
Geothermal Energy, volume=101, issue=4, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Energy has seldom been found where we need it when we want it. Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame. With more settled people, animals were harnessed to capstans or caged in treadmills to turn grist into meal.}}
- I was wished to your worship by a gentleman.
Usage notes
* In sense 3, this is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive . SeeDerived terms
(Terms derived from the verb "wish") * as you wish * half wish * I wish * unwish * well-wisher * wisher * you wishenvy
English
Noun
Verb
(en-verb)- I do not envy at their wealth, titles, offices;let me live quiet and at ease.
- Who would envy at the prosperity of the wicked?
- But that sweet Cordiall, which can restore / A loue-sick hart, she did to him enuy […].
- He hasenvied against the people.
- If I make a lie / To gain your love and envy my best mistress, / Put me against a wall.
- (Marlowe)
- (Spenser)