Invidious

She does have a favourite among her children, but she thinks it would be invidious to say which.

She does have a favourite among her children, but she thinks it'd be invidious to say which one it is.

The diplomat's assertion of the primacy of his nation's interests was seen as an invidious act by his nation's rivals.

To think highly of ourselves in comparison with others, to assume by our own authority that precedence which none is willing to grant, must be always invidious and offensive; […]

‘I didn’t make use of the word in any invidious sense, ma’am,’ replied Mr. Benjamin Allen, growing somewhat uneasy on his own account.

[…] when the interposing barriers of earth and time, and a sense that the events had been somewhat shut into oblivion, would deaden the sting that revelation and invidious remark would have for Bathsheba just now.

He lingered on the bridges at sunset, and knew that the light was enchanting and the mountains divine, but there seemed to be something horribly invidious and unwelcome in the fact.

I should be very reluctant, as head of His Majesty's Government, to place such an invidious responsibility upon a British officer.

But the rich man—not to make any invidious comparison—is always sold to the institution which makes him rich.

There were so many drinks to be drunk, and as the warm magic poured through our veins and mellowed our voices and affections we knew it was no time to make invidious distinctions—to drink with this shipmate and to decline to drink with that shipmate.