covet
Want what's another's
To covet is to yearn for something that belongs to someone else—their possessions, success, or situation.
The word carries moral weight from its biblical prohibition: Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife.
A coveted prize or position is one many people desire intensely.
The adjective covetous describes someone prone to such wanting.
Excessive desire for riches
- acquisitivenessDesire to gather wealth
- materialismPrioritizing goods over spirit
- possessivenessExcessive attachment to ownership
- hoardingExcessive accumulation of goods
rapacity · insatiability · grasping · cupidity · voracity · gluttony · selfishness · money-grubbing
Resentful desire for another's advantages
- begrudgeEnvy or give unwillingly
- resentmentPersistent bitter displeasure
- rivalryOngoing contest between opponents
- grudgePersistent resentment toward someone
green-eyed · bitterness · spite · discontent · invidious · comparison · ill-will · enviousness
Tender sadness for absence
- nostalgiaLonging for the past
- yearningIntense prolonged craving
- piningAching with prolonged desire
- cravingPowerful urge to have
melancholy · sighing · fondness · sentimentality · homesickness · dreaminess · languishing · ache
crave
Intensely desire something
hanker · pine · ache · thirst · hunger · lust · fancy · wish · aspire · dream
avarice
Excessive desire for riches
- acquisitivenessDesire to gather wealth
- materialismPrioritizing goods over spirit
- possessivenessExcessive attachment to ownership
hoarding · rapacity · insatiability · grasping · cupidity · voracity · gluttony · selfishness · money-grubbing · graspingness
jealousy
Resentful desire for another's advantages
- begrudgeEnvy or give unwillingly
- resentmentPersistent bitter displeasure
- rivalryOngoing contest between opponents
grudge · green-eyed · bitterness · spite · discontent · invidious · comparison · ill-will · enviousness · dissatisfaction
wistfulness
Tender sadness for absence
craving · melancholy · sighing · fondness · sentimentality · homesickness · dreaminess · languishing · ache · miss
- wantingwant, desire, crave, yearn, long
- commandmentsTen Commandments, no other gods, honor thy parents, honor parents, no stealing
- desireyearn, yearning, crave, craving, lust
- preferencespreferences, prefer, likes, like, liking
- future intentionswant to, going to, aim to, will, shall
- persuasionpersuade, persuasion, persuasive, convince, convincing
covetrenounce
Formally give up
relinquish · give · surrender · abjure · forswear
covetcontentment
Peaceful satisfaction with circumstances
gratitude · satisfaction · accept · count one's blessings · sufficiency
coveted, covetous, coveting, covets, covetousness, covetable, covetously, coveter