Invidious

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ɪnˈvɪdi.əs/

Definitions

1. likely to provoke anger or resentment through unfair discrimination or offensive comparison that breeds envious hostility
2. tending to create ill will by making unjust distinctions or comparisons that wound pride and foster jealousy
3. Causing bitterness or displeasure by being unfairly discriminatory or provoking envy

Etymology: To a Roman, envy was something you did with your eyes. The verb "invidere" joined "in-" (upon, against) to "videre" (to see), and its meaning slid from looking back at someone, to looking at them askance, to looking at them with malice. That last look was the evil eye, a gaze that could wish harm, and the noun built on it, "invidia," came to mean envy, grudge and ill will. Latin then formed the adjective "invidiosus," which faced in two directions at once. It could describe the person doing the envying, or the person or thing that drew envy and hatred onto itself. Roman politicians knew that second kind well: "invidia" also named the public odium that settled on a man who looked too rich, too powerful or too favored. English took this one Latin word twice. The first copy came through Old French as "envieus" and settled in as envious by about 1300, keeping the active sense: the one who resents. The second was borrowed straight from Latin around 1600 as invidious, and it kept the passive sense: the thing that provokes resentment. The two are doublets, the same word reaching English by different roads and carrying away different halves of their parent's meaning. The newer word soon narrowed toward unfairness. An invidious distinction or comparison is one that singles some people out over others, and so invites exactly the sidelong, grudging look that "invidere" first described.

Synonyms: envy-inducing, resentful, jealous, spiteful, malicious

Antonyms: commendable, praiseworthy, beneficial, advantageous, favorable