jealous

First attested in 1382. From Middle English jelous, gelous, gelus, from Old French jalous, from Late Latin zelosus, from Ancient Greek ζῆλος (zêlos, “zeal, jealousy”). Doublet of zealous.

• IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ʒɛləs/

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• Hyphenation: jeal‧ous
• Rhymes: -ɛləs

jealous (comparative jealouser or more jealous, superlative jealousest or most jealous)

1. 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. [from 13th c.]
   • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, OCLC 1167497017:

     She stopped, and laid her hand upon his golden head, and then bent down and kissed his brow with a chastened abandonment of tenderness that would have been beautiful to behold had not the sight cut me to the heart - for I was jealous!

2. Protective, zealously guarding, careful in the protection of something one has or appreciates. [from 14th c.]
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Exodus 20:5, column 2:

     Thou ſhalt not bow downe thy ſelfe to them, nor ſerue them: For I the Lord thy God am a iealous God, viſiting the iniquitie of the fathers vpon the children, vnto the thirde and fourth generation of them that hate me:

3. Envious; feeling resentful or angered toward someone for a perceived advantage or success, material or otherwise. [from 14th c.]
   • 1891, Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray:

     I am jealous of everything whose beauty does not die.

   • 1899, Mark Twain, The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg:

     The neighbouring towns were jealous of this honourable supremacy.

   I'm jealous because I'm single.

4. Suspecting, suspicious.
   • 1823, Walter Scott, Quentin Durward:

     At length [...] the Duke demanded to know of Durward who his guide was, [...] and wherefore he had been led to entertain suspicion of him. To the first of these questions Quentin Durward answered by naming Hayraddin Maugrabin, the Bohemian; [...] and in reply to the third point he mentioned what had happened in the Franciscan convent near Namur, how the Bohemian had been expelled from the holy house, and how, jealous of his behaviour, he had dogged him to a rendezvous with one of William de la Marck's lanzknechts, where he overheard them arrange a plan for surprising the ladies who were under his protection.

Some usage guides seek to distinguish "jealous" from “envious”, using jealous to mean “protective of one’s own position or possessions” – one “jealously guards what one has” – and envious to mean “desirous of others’ position or possessions” – one “envies what others have”. [1] This distinction is also maintained in the psychological and philosophical literature.[2][3] However, this distinction is not always reflected in usage, as shown by the citations above.

• jealous husbands problem
• jealous-like adjective
• jealously adverb
• jealousy noun
• jealousness noun

• zeal
• zealot
• zealous

• jalouse