À l'envi
Meaning: Vying with one another; each trying to outdo the rest.
Language: French
Literally: In emulation
Category: Daily Life
Origin: From the archaic verb envier meaning to challenge or bid against, not from envie, desire. The missing final e is correct and is corrected wrongly by nearly everyone.
More idioms — Daily Life
- Jeter l'éponge — To give up and concede.
- Passer l'éponge — To forgive and say no more about it.
- L'esprit de l'escalier — The perfect retort that arrives only after you have left.
- Tomber dans l'escarcelle de quelqu'un — To end up in someone's possession, often without their working for it.
- À bon escient — Advisedly; with proper judgment about when to do it.
- Des espèces sonnantes et trébuchantes — Hard cash, as opposed to promises or credit.
More French idioms
- D'estoc et de taille — With everything one has, by every available means.
- Ne connaître ni d'Ève ni d'Adam — Not to know someone at all.
- Fauché comme les blés — Completely broke.
- S'inscrire en faux — To formally deny something and challenge its truth.
- Cherchez la femme — There is a woman behind this somewhere.
- Jeter l'argent par les fenêtres — To spend recklessly and pointlessly.
From our proverbs
- Better pay the butcher than the doctor. — Investing in good food prevents illness more cost-effectively than treating disease after…
- Butter is gold in the morning, silver at noon, lead at night. — Fresh butter's nutritional value diminishes with time, rewarding early consumption over d…
- What is a pound of butter amongst a kennel of hounds? — One small gift cannot satisfy many hungry recipients, so generosity loses its value when…
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