Use Covetous In A Sentence | Natural, Crisp Examples

If you want to use covetous in a sentence, the trick is simple: place it where strong desire feels a little uneasy, hungry, or possessive. The word is not a plain stand-in for “wanting.” It carries a darker shade. That shade is what makes it vivid.

You’ll see covetous most often in formal writing, literary prose, moral writing, and sharp character sketches. It can still work in plain English, though. You just need the right setting, the right noun, and a sentence that gives the word room to bite.

What Covetous Means And Where It Fits

Covetous is an adjective. It describes a person, look, mood, or act driven by a grasping wish to own or possess something. In many cases, the thing desired belongs to someone else. That’s why the word often carries a hint of envy, greed, or moral tension.

A sentence with covetous lands best when the reader can sense more than plain interest. Someone who admires a watch is not always covetous. Someone who stares at a friend’s watch with hungry resentment may be. That emotional edge is the whole point.

Use it when you want writing that feels:

• Sharper than wanting
• Colder than admiring
• More loaded than jealous
• Less blunt than greedy

That balance makes covetous handy in essays, fiction, history writing, sermons, and opinion pieces. In casual chat, it can sound a bit formal, so sentence tone matters.

What Makes The Word Feel Natural

The best sentences pair covetous with nouns that suggest status, wealth, beauty, power, or privilege. Cars, land, titles, jewels, jobs, praise, and attention all work well. So do body-language nouns, such as glance, stare, eyes, or smile.

That gives you two strong paths. You can describe the person directly, or you can describe the look or mood around that person.

Use Covetous In A Sentence In Daily Writing

If you want this word to sound clean and natural, start with sentence frames that already fit its tone. These patterns work across school writing, fiction, and polished everyday prose.

Sentence Patterns That Work Well

• Person + was + covetous of + noun: “He was covetous of his brother’s share of the estate.”
• Covetous + noun: “She gave the ring a covetous glance.”
• With + covetous + eyes/look/stare: “They watched the corner office with covetous eyes.”
• Verb + in a covetous way: “The bidder lingered near the painting in a covetous hush.”

Notice what these sentences do. They tie the word to a clear object of desire. They also hint at motive. A sentence like “He felt covetous” is not wrong, but it feels thin. A sentence like “He felt covetous when he saw the bonus announced under her name” gives the word weight.

Strong Examples Across Different Contexts

Here are several ways the word can shift tone without losing its meaning:

• “The child cast a covetous glance at the last slice of cake.”
• “Several heirs grew covetous as the lawyer read the will.”
• “His covetous stare made her clutch the antique vase a little tighter.”
• “The article painted the regime as covetous, ruthless, and hungry for land.”
• “She spoke of the scholarship without sounding bitter or covetous.”

Each line gives the reader a clear target of desire. That target is what keeps the sentence from floating.

Context	Sentence	Why It Works
Family conflict	His covetous gaze settled on the house that had gone to his sister.	The word fits inheritance, envy, and tension in one stroke.
School setting	Several students threw covetous looks at the prize on the front table.	A visible object makes the desire clear at once.
Workplace	She hid her covetous interest when the corner office opened up.	The sentence shows ambition with a faintly harsh edge.
Historical writing	The empire’s covetous hunger for gold reshaped the whole region.	The word suits formal prose and power-driven motives.
Fiction	He ran a thumb along the silver box, his smile slow and covetous.	Physical detail gives the adjective texture and mood.
Social scene	Guests glanced at the rare bottle with quiet, covetous interest.	The tone stays polished while the desire still shows.
Religion or ethics	The sermon warned against a covetous heart dressed up as ambition.	The word has a long moral and biblical history.
Personal reflection	I caught myself growing covetous of her freedom, not her money.	The sentence gives the word an honest, human turn.

Using Covetous In Sentences That Sound Natural

A good test is this: if plain desire would make the sentence flat, covetous may be the better pick. Dictionaries also keep that darker shade front and center. Merriam-Webster defines covetous as desire that is excessive or fixed on what belongs to another person, while Cambridge Dictionary notes the same pull toward wanting something too much, often when it is someone else’s.

That shared thread matters. It means you should not force the word into mild, cheerful lines. “She felt covetous about the sunny weather” sounds off. Weather is not the sort of object people possess in a way that matches the word’s usual charge. A promotion, necklace, title, lake house, or inheritance works better.

When The Tone Is Too Heavy

Covetous can sound stiff if the rest of the sentence is breezy. If your paragraph is casual, try using the word through an image rather than as a direct label. “He kept shooting covetous looks at the new bike” sounds smoother than “He was covetous.” The second line is clean, yet it can feel bare unless the next sentence fills in the object and mood.

If you want to hear the word in live sentence form, Merriam-Webster’s sentence bank is useful for checking rhythm, pairing, and tone.

Common Mistakes That Weaken The Sentence

Writers usually miss in one of three ways. They use the word with the wrong object, they place it in a sentence with no tension, or they pile it next to another adjective that already says the same thing.

• Too vague: “She felt covetous.” The line needs an object.
• Wrong tone: “He was covetous of a nap.” That sounds comic unless comedy is your aim.
• Double-stacked meaning: “Her jealous, greedy, covetous stare” feels crowded.
• No scene at all: “They were covetous people.” That can work in a broad statement, though it has more punch with detail.

A sharper move is to build one concrete image around the word. Give the reader something to see: hands lingering over a brochure, eyes fixed on a medal, silence turning tense at the reading of a will.

Weak Version	Better Version	Reason
She felt covetous.	She felt covetous when she saw her cousin step out of the paid-off car.	The sentence now gives a trigger and a target.
He was covetous of success.	He grew covetous of the praise his partner collected at every meeting.	The desire feels personal and specific.
They had covetous eyes.	They watched the signed first edition with covetous eyes from across the room.	The image carries more force with a named object.
Her covetous attitude was clear.	Her covetous smile appeared each time the conversation turned to the beach house.	Body language beats an abstract label.

Better Word Choices When Covetous Feels Too Formal

Sometimes the meaning is right, but the sound is too dressed up for the sentence around it. In that case, swap it for a word that keeps the same pull with a different texture.

Use One Of These Instead

• Jealous when the feeling is emotional and personal
• Envious when you want a softer tone
• Greedy when you want a harder moral jab
• Hungry for when you want a plain, modern phrase
• Grasping when the sentence needs a colder edge

That said, none of those words does the exact same job. Covetous has an old, moral, almost literary flavor. If that flavor suits the sentence, keep it. If the sentence is short, modern, and spoken aloud, a simpler word may flow better.

A Cleaner Way To Make The Word Work

The cleanest sentence with covetous usually has three parts: a person, a visible object, and a hint of strain. Put those together and the word earns its place.

Try lines like these as models:

• “He gave the trophy a covetous look as the winner raised it overhead.”
• “The brothers grew covetous when the land value doubled.”
• “She was not covetous of his money, only of the freedom it bought him.”

If your sentence shows desire with a sharper, possessive edge, you’re on solid ground. If it only shows mild admiration, step back and pick a lighter word.