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Wishful vs Envious - What's the difference?

wishful | envious |

In obsolete terms the difference between wishful and envious

is that wishful is wished-for; desired, wanted while envious is malignant; mischievous; spiteful.

wishful

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • (obsolete) Wished-for; desired, wanted.
  • * 1596 , (Edmund Spenser), The Faerie Queene , V.9:
    • The cry whereof entring the hollow cave / Eftsoones brought forth the villaine, as they ment, / With hope of her some wishfull boot to have.
  • Expressing a wish or longing for something.
  • Aspiring, or seeking advancement.

    • Derived terms

    * wishful thinking

    envious

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Feeling or exhibiting envy; jealously desiring the excellence or good fortune of another; maliciously grudging
    • an envious''' man, disposition, or attack; '''envious tongues
  • * Bible, Proverbs xxiv. 19.
    • Neither be thou envious at the wicked.
  • * Keble
    • My soul is envious of mine eye.
  • Excessively careful; cautious.
  • * Jeremy Taylor
    • No men are so envious of their health.
  • (obsolete) Malignant; mischievous; spiteful.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Each envious brier his weary legs doth scratch.
  • (obsolete, poetic) Inspiring envy.
  • * Spenser
    • He to him leapt, and that same envious gage / Of victor's glory from him snatched away.

    See also

    * (l)

    Anagrams

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