In this installment of Word Knots we’ll look at two words that are often confused with one another and misused. 

Our source for this installment is The Dictionary of Disagreeable English by Robert Hartwell Fiske (Chicago: Writer’s Digest Books). This is a great book to browse: I highly recommend it.

From Fiske:

envious

Misused for enviable. 

As Fiske writes (excerpted):

Enviable means evoking feelings of envy. Envious means feeling, showing, or characterized by envy. Most often, it is people who are envious, things that are enviable.

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Let’s look at what Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary says (excerpted):

envious

adjective

1  : feeling or showing envy

enviable

adjective

  : highly desirable

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I think that Fiske’s tip is worth remembering: people are envious, while things are enviable.

Let’s look at each of these used correctly:

She was envious of her best friend, who got the promotion she was hoping to get.

Her friend’s new role put her in an enviable position.

Remember: word choice matters.

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