Please give me a hand to fill in the blank with the most appropriate verb:


She is the most gorgeous actress among all the female players and this is why most of the men try to flatter her and lay it on thick for her! I've heard many times that her blue eyes was the envy of the entire class!

I think her beauty................other ladies jealousy.

I am looking for a verb that fits best in the above sentence; according to the dictionaries definition the verb "arouse" seems to be idiomatic, but I have no idea weather it is natural as well! I would be grateful if someone could help me in this regard.

P.S. The reason I doubt about this verb is that, I found only one single hit on google search.


There are multiple verbs and verb phrases that can work:

gives rise to
causes brings about
and many more

Note 3rd person singular 'her' requires 3rd person singular verb ending in 's'.

Side note: Gender politics is definitely off-topic, but in a 21st century context of always pursuing equality in language, as well as deeds, I would say 'women', not 'ladies' (just as you would say 'men' and not 'gentlemen'). Furthermore, I'd probably avoid the entire subject of ascribing motives for jealousy to women combined with topics of female beauty if you are (as I suspect) a man.

I'm not saying such subjects are forbidden or censored or anything like that, before anyone freaks out. I'm just suggesting that you can accidentally cause offence if you don't have good grasp on how your words might be interpreted. Archaic forms of speech ('ladies') combined with judgements about jealousy and beauty would get you into trouble in certain contexts.

  • Thank you very much for informing me @fred2, but I would really like that all the honorable ladies here would take it into consideration that it was only a scenario and all the made up story was formed in my mind which based on some cultural gaps should be overlooked and not be taken personal. – A-friend Mar 26 at 19:48

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