jealous
adjective
Simple meaning
Suspecting rivalry in love.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
jehluhsSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈdʒɛləs
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Envious; feeling resentful or angered toward someone for a perceived advantage or success, material or otherwise.
Suspecting rivalry in love; troubled by worries that one might have been replaced in someone's affections; suspicious of a lover's or spouse's fidelity.
Protective; zealously guarding; careful in the protection of something (or someone) one has or appreciates, especially one's spouse or lover.
Suspicious; apprehensive.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Envious; feeling resentful or angered toward someone for a perceived advantage or success, material or otherwise.
Used this way, jealous is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly warm, approving pull. It quietly approves while staying precise.
- Emotional tone
- Positive
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Successful and accomplished
- Usage feel
- Precise and approving
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
A feeling of jealous envy (especially of a rival).
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
Commonly Confused With
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.