What's the difference between jealousy and envy?

Question

What's the difference between jealousy and envy?

Answer 1

I think that envy has a slight touch of admiration mixed with jealousy.  Both emotions are the result of personal insecurity in the person who is jealous or envious.

Answer 2

I always thought that jealousy was more of a passing emotion whereas envy had you in a vice like grip.  Maybe because we tend to talk of jealousy casually whereas envy is more of a sin.

Answer 3

Envy denotes a longing to possess something awarded to or achieved by another: to feel envy when a friend inherits a fortune. Jealousy, on the other hand, denotes a feeling of resentment that another has gained something that one more rightfully deserves: to feel jealousy when a coworker receives a promotion

Answer 4

envy is vicious, while jealousy its less harmless.

althought a high stage of  jealousy can conduce to envy.

example: a child can be jealous of another relative such as a younger brother, which is considered a normal stage, because later on it can fade if the parent explains that being a little jealous is not bad, but being too jealous can be wrong. helping the child understand the difference helps that jealousy fade away later on. jealousy can be harmless among children and adults if treated as a normal feeling.

if i say: "oh, look at that girls hair, its so beautiful it makes me jealous". well, i am more admiring her beautiful hair, wishing i had similar hair, but not desiring anything bad to happen to her hair.

envy is really bad. people even have killed for envy because its an uncontrollable urge to want what another person has by taking it away from them. the only way u can take something away from another permanantly is by getting rid of the person, if not physically u may be thinking about it in your mind which gives people the idea of taking away. people steal, kill or emotionally destroy others lifes by taking away.

its a high stage of greed, and greed can become dangerous.

if i say: " i want my neighboor's husband because thats the kind of man i always wanted for me and i will seduce him and take him away from his wife, he will be mine, not her's".

this is a greed that will destroy a marriage and a family, just because u WANT (not wish, like jealousy) him and u will do negative acts that will satisfy your greediness, regardless of what happens.

Answer 5

Although sometimes used synonymously, envy and jealousy have different meanings.

Envy is the desire for something that someone else has, or a feeling of ill will over another person's advantages in general:

    My envy of your success has made me bitter.

Jealousy is a resentful suspicion that someone else has what rightfully belongs to the jealous person:

    Out of jealousy, he followed his wife.

    The favored treatment of the daughter created jealousy in the son.