How to Use envious in a Sentence

envious

adjective
  • The lessons are harsh; the envious have their eyes sewn shut with iron wire.
    — Claudia Roth Pierpont, New Yorker, 24 Nov. 2025
  • All five of us girls grew up envious of the privileges the boys had.
    — Caterina Clerici & Eléonore Hamelin, Marie Claire, 1 Feb. 2019
  • The rest of the publishing world should be fifty shades of envious.
    — Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 26 Feb. 2021
  • Palmieri has played with each for nearly a decade but isn’t envious of their success.
    — Steve Reaven, chicagotribune.com, 7 Apr. 2022
  • Top clubs have watched those performances and cast envious glances.
    — Chris Waugh, New York Times, 13 Jan. 2026
  • Like birds of prey being tamed by a falconer, the envious have their eyes sewn shut.
    — Judith Thurman, The New Yorker, 13 Sep. 2021
  • Some of the teeth of the comb were envious of human class differences.
    — Bradley Babendir, New Republic, 10 July 2017
  • Marketers of the past would be envious of the wealth of data available.
    — Charlie Grinnell, Forbes, 15 Apr. 2021
  • The first group is small and powerful; the second is large and envious.
    — David Von Drehle, The Denver Post, 18 Sep. 2019
  • Of course, having one of the most iconic pieces in her wardrobe would have any of her fans feeling envious.
    — Michelle Lee, Peoplemag, 14 Apr. 2023
  • One things is for sure, the judges aren't envious of America's job.
    — Cydney Henderson, USA TODAY, 23 Sep. 2020
  • But that hasn't stopped him from being envious of Styles' success.
    — Kirsty Hatcher, Peoplemag, 24 Feb. 2023
  • Fellow trainers grumbled but declined to go on the record so as not to look envious.
    — Joe Drape, New York Times, 11 Apr. 2023
  • He was portrayed as a weak, envious, schemer who was disowned by his brother and cast out from his people.
    — Steve Donoghue, The Christian Science Monitor, 14 Dec. 2020
  • So what was on the menu that had Dunkin’ loyalists feeling so envious?
    — Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 21 Oct. 2022
  • While San Diego gets lots of credit for its supply, few are envious of our costs.
    — Michael Smolens, sandiegouniontribune.com, 21 Feb. 2018
  • For the past 10 season the Brock baseball team has been on an envious run.
    — Darren Lauber, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 31 May 2025
  • Soon, Ron is on a quest that leads to enough rabbit holes to make QAnon envious.
    — Julie Hinds, Freep.com, 10 Oct. 2025
  • Phoebe Buffay would be envious.
    — Merrell Readman, Travel + Leisure, 28 Oct. 2025
  • Perhaps those stories about the doctor’s loose supply of pills were just the work of envious gossips.
    — Ron Charles, Washington Post, 23 Jan. 2023
  • Kevin Gausman is envious of Spencer Miles.
    — Mitch Bannon, New York Times, 22 May 2026
  • Farther along two sailors had their backs turned to the view and were watching with envious looks a boy and girl who were giggling and horsing around.
    — John Dos Passos, Harper's magazine, 2 Mar. 2020
  • Farther along two sailors had their backs turned to the view and were watching with envious looks a boy and girl who were giggling and horsing around.
    — John Dos Passos, Harper's Magazine, 30 Mar. 2020
  • For the first time, a prescriptive hearing aid device made people envious.
    — Bill Schiffmiller, Forbes.com, 25 Aug. 2025
  • Plans could get jettisoned, confidences could be shared with others, someone envious could try to erode your sense of self.
    — Magi Helena, Dallas Morning News, 9 Jan. 2026
  • Riley, perhaps a bit envious, took notice.
    — Kevin Kurz, New York Times, 2 Oct. 2025
  • The Orioles won 101 games last year with a core of young players that could make any franchise envious.
    — Noah Trister, USA TODAY, 26 Jan. 2024
  • Bernice King, the youngest, was once envious of her siblings, who had many more memories of King.
    — Errin Haines Whack, chicagotribune.com, 3 Apr. 2018
  • By this stage, Jamal has developed walk-and-talk skills that would make Aaron Sorkin envious.
    — Jessica Kiang, Variety, 25 Mar. 2023
  • Pizzi has heard from parents of kids in other football leagues who are envious of the changes that Riverdale has made, wishing their school would do the same.
    — Alana Semuels, Time, 20 Oct. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'envious.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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