re·sent·ment (r -z nt m nt)n. Indignation or ill will felt as a result of a real or imagined grievance. See Synonyms at anger. |
resentment [rɪˈzɛntmənt]
Resentment
dog in the manger A person who out of pure spite prevents others from using or enjoying something that he himself does not need or want. The allusion is to the fable of a dog who situated himself in a manger and selfishly would not allow the ox or horse to feed on the hay it contained. This expression has been in use since at least the late 1500s.
gall and wormwood Feelings of intense bitterness and deep resentment; rancor, hostility, or hardness of heart. Both gall and wormwood refer to bitter substances—the former to bile and the latter to a bitter herb. The earliest use of the phrase gall and wormwood appears in Lamentations 3:19.
Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.
Today the phrase is heard more often in literary contexts than in everyday speech.
the green-eyed monster Jealousy. This epithet was coined by Shakespeare; lago uses it when warning Othello of the destructive nature of jealousy:
Oh, beware, my lord, of jealousy. It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock
The meat it feeds on. (III, iii)
Green-eyed ‘jealous’ and green with envy are common variants.
put [someone’s] nose out of joint See HUMILIATION.
sour grapes Disdain or contempt affected as a rationale for that which one does not or cannot have; envy, resentment. This expression is derived from Aesop’s fable of The Fox and the Grapes, in which a hungry fox, unable to reach a cluster of grapes after repeated attempts, finally gives up and leaves, justifying his failure by telling himself that the grapes were undoubtedly sour anyway.
I have never been able to understand the fascination which makes my brother Philip and others wish to spend their entire lives in this neighbourhood. I once said as much to Hannah, and she replied that it was sour grapes on my part. (C. P. Snow, Conscience of the Rich, 1958)
| Noun | 1. |  resentment - a feeling of deep and bitter anger and ill-willill will, enmity, hostility - the feeling of a hostile person; "he could no longer contain his hostility" heartburning - intense resentment; "his promotion caused much heartburning among his rivals" huffishness, sulkiness - a feeling of sulky resentment grievance, grudge, score - a resentment strong enough to justify retaliation; "holding a grudge"; "settling a score" enviousness, envy - a feeling of grudging admiration and desire to have something that is possessed by another |
resentment
"It is very difficult to get up resentment towards persons whom one has never seen" [Cardinal Newman Apologia pro Vita Sua]
to cause a lot of resentment → provoquer beaucoup de ressentiment
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