Definition of Jealous

1. Adjective. Showing extreme cupidity; painfully desirous of another's advantages. "Envious of their art collection"

Exact synonyms: Covetous, Envious
Similar to: Desirous, Wishful
Derivative terms: Covetousness, Enviousness, Envy

2. Adjective. Suspicious or unduly suspicious or fearful of being displaced by a rival. "A jealous lover"
Exact synonyms: Green-eyed, Overjealous
Similar to: Distrustful

Definition of Jealous

1. a. Zealous; solicitous; vigilant; anxiously watchful.

Definition of Jealous

1. Adjective. Suspecting rivalry in love; troubled by worries that one might have been replaced in someone's affections; suspicious of a lover or spouse's fidelity. (defdate from 13th c.) ¹

2. Adjective. Protective, zealously guarding, careful in the protection of something one has or appreciates. (defdate from 14th c.) ¹

3. Adjective. Envious; feeling resentful of someone for a perceived advantage, material or otherwise. (defdate from 14th c.) ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Jealous

1. resentful of another's advantages [adj]

Medical Definition of Jealous

1. 1. Zealous; solicitous; vigilant; anxiously watchful. "I have been very jeolous for the Lord God of hosts." (Kings xix. 10) "How nicely jealous is every one of us of his own repute!" (Dr. H. More) 2. Apprehensive; anxious; suspiciously watchful. "'This doing wrong creates such doubts as these, Renders us jealous and disturbs our peace." (Waller) "The people are so jealous of the clergy's ambition." (Swift) 3. Exacting exclusive devotion; intolerant of rivalry. "Thou shalt worship no other God; for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God." (Ex. Xxxiv. 14) 4. Disposed to suspect rivalry in matters of interest and affection; apprehensive regarding the motives of possible rivals, or the fidelity of friends; distrustful; having morbid fear of rivalry in love or preference given to another; painfully suspicious of the faithfulness of husband, wife, or lover. "If the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife." (Num. V. 14) "To both these sisters have I sworn my love: Each jealous of the other, as the stung Are of the adder." (Shak) "It is one of the best bonds, both of chastity and obedience, in the wife, if she think her husband wise; which she will never do if she find him jealous." (Bacon) Synonym: Suspicious, anxious, envious. Jealous, Suspicious. Suspicious is the wider term. We suspect a person when we distrust his honesty and imagine he has some bad design. We are jealous when we suspect him of aiming to deprive us of what we dearly prize. Iago began by awakening the suspicions of Othello, and converted them at last into jealousy. "Suspicion may be excited by some kind of accusation, not supported by evidence sufficient for conviction, but sufficient to trouble the repose of confidence." "Jealousy is a painful apprehension of rivalship in cases that are peculiarly interesting to us." Origin: OE. Jalous, gelus, OF. Jalous, F. Jaloux, LL. Zelosus zealous, fr. Zelus emulation, zeal, jealousy, Gr. See Zeal, and cf. Zealous. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Jealous

jazzman
jazzmen
jazznik
jazzniks
jazzophile
jazzophiles
jazzperson
jazzwoman
jazzwomen
jazzy
jdb
jdbs
je ne sais quoi
je ne sais quois
jeah
jealous (current term)
jealous type of paranoid disorder
jealouse
jealoused
jealouses
jealousies
jealously
jealousness
jealousnesses
jealousy
jean
jeanbandyite
jeaned
jeanette
jeanettes

Literary usage of Jealous

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The deeper wrong; or, Incidents in the life of a slave girl, written by by Harriet Jacobs, Harriet Brent] [Jacobs (1862)
"THE jealous MISTRESS. I WOULD ten thousand times rather that my children should be the half-starved paupers of Ireland than to be the most pampered among ..."

2. The anatomy of melancholy, by Democritus iunior by Robert Burton (1840)
"8 Vives, swans, doves, cockes, bulls, &c. are jealous as well as men, and as much moved, for feare of communion. h Grege pro toto bellu ..."

3. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon (1843)
"But the moderation of the conquerors was insufficient to appease the jealous prejudices of their subjects, who were alarmed and scandalized at the ensigns ..."

4. Middlemarch: A Study of Provincial Life by George Eliot (1873)
"The mass of his feeling about Dorothea's marriage to Ladislaw was due partly to excusable prejudice, or even justifiable opinion, partly to a jealous ..."

5. Daniel Deronda by George Eliot (1876)
"... Gwendolen having flattered him on his enviable immobility of countenance ; and, at first a little pained and jealous at her comradeship with Rex, ..."

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