While many people believe that jealous means fear someone will take what you have, and jealous means desire for what another has, historical usage shows that both mean “desire” and are interchangeable when describing another’s desire to possess. However, when it comes to romantic feelings, only jealous can be used to mean “doubtful possession,” as in “a jealous husband.”
Is there a difference between jealous And jealous? That depends on who you ask. Some have taken a stance on the matter similar to that of the famous lexicographer Homer Simpson: “I’m not jealous! I envy. Jealousy is when you worry someone will take what you have… envy is wanting what someone else has.” However, others do not make this distinction, or distinguish between the two in any other way. Let’s look at some of the ways that jealous And jealous overlap.
Although ‘envy’ and ‘envy’ can both mean ‘covet’, only ‘envy’ can be used to mean ‘possessive doubt’.
Derived from
Both words are quite old, have been in regular use in English since the 13th century, and both words have accumulated several shades of meaning over the years. The fact that each of these words has multiple meanings makes saying “jealous mean XAnd jealous mean Y.” But this unrealistic problem has proven not to stop many people, who have insisted that each of these words really has a single real meaning.
Here are some of the comments made on these two words, taken from manuals published since the mid-20th century:
One could almost say that these two words are used as if they were interchangeable… However, the words are rarely synonymous. Jealous means disgruntled desire for the sake of others. Jealousy means unpleasant suspicion, or apprehension about competition. —Theodore M. Bernstein, Careful writer1965
There are three different ways in it jealous can be used. The most common is … where the meaning is “fear of losing attention.” Another broad meaning is “possessed” or “protected”… the third usage is in the sense of “envy,” toward another because of that person’s possessions, abilities, or achievements. —William and Mary Morris, Harper’s Dictionary of Contemporary Usage (2nd edition), 1985
Jealousy be appropriately limited to the context of competitive sentiment; jealous more widely used to refer to the frustrating contemplation of someone more fortunate. —Bryan A. Garner, Garner’s Modern American Usage (3rd edition), 2009
One begins to see confused questions about what the usage might be when one ponders the fact that all three books above make statements about these words. jealousy (And jealous) And jealous, they are all true in some way, and they are all different in nature in some way. There is indeed some semantic difference that can be made between these words, but it should also be noted that many educated people use them interchangeably.
Jealous often used to refer to a feeling of covetousness for another person’s attributes, possessions, or stature in life. Many users jealous to mean the same thing. “I envy his luck” can be changed to “I envy his luck” without significantly changing the meaning of the sentence for most people. Therefore, jealous can be used for this feeling jealous.
Jealousy and romantic
Jealous It is also common to encounter adjectives to refer to some unwanted feeling in the romantic circuit, typically in which a person harbors doubts about infidelity or the possibility that one’s love will be stolen. An important difference here is jealous shall not act as a substitute for this use jealous. It is not possible to change “He has always been a jealous husband” to “He has always been a jealous husband” without significantly changing the meaning of the sentence.
So while jealous can be used to mean both “desire” and “doubtful possession”, jealous comfortable only in the first of those two senses. This, of course, raises the following question: given that jealous has more meaning jealousfrom that jealous feel jealous or envious (or both) about the greater semantic breadth of its synonym?
Categories: Usage Notes
Source: vothisaucamau.edu.vn
