I'm trying to describe King Saul's suicide out of fear of his rival David, of-whom-he-is-jealous. Is there a better way to describe this?
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2I'm not aware of a single-word name, but "the X of Saul's jealousy", where X is something along the lines of "focus", "target" or "object", might work? – Watercleave Sep 06 '14 at 20:51
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1If you're following the original, a better way to describe it would be "King Saul's suicide out of fear of capture and torture at the hands of the Philistines". – StoneyB on hiatus Sep 06 '14 at 21:40
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Star Trek Nemesis. – Blessed Geek Sep 07 '14 at 05:00
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I know of no word for of-whom-he-is-jealous. As Watercleave mentioned, object of is reasonable. There are other words, however, which do describe in one word what David was to Saul:
- nemesis: a source of harm or ruin; an agent or act of retribution.
- rival: one that equals or almost equals another in a particular respect.
anongoodnurse
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While it doesn't really have a biblical mien, you might consider the Joneses with whom you can never keep up.
"Keeping up with the Joneses" is an idiom in many parts of the English-speaking world referring to the comparison to one's neighbor as a benchmark for social class or the accumulation of material goods. To fail to "keep up with the Joneses" is perceived as demonstrating socio-economic or cultural inferiority. [Wikipedia]
bib
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