lust

American  

[luhst] / lʌst /

noun

1. intense sexual desire or appetite.

2. uncontrolled or illicit sexual desire or appetite; lecherousness.

3. a passionate or overmastering desire or craving (usually followed byfor ).

   a lust for power.

4. ardent enthusiasm; zest; relish.

   an enviable lust for life.

5. Obsolete.

   1. pleasure or delight.

   2. desire; inclination; wish.

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verb (used without object)

1. to have intense sexual desire.

2. to have a yearning or desire; have a strong or excessive craving (often followed by for orafter ).

   Synonyms:

   yearn, covet, hunger, crave

lust British  

/ lʌst /

noun

1. a strong desire for sexual gratification

2. a strong desire or drive

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verb

1. (intr; often foll by after or for) to have a lust (for)

Other Word Forms

• unlusting adjective

Etymology

Origin of lust

First recorded before 900; Middle English luste, Old English lust; cognate with Dutch, German Lust “pleasure, desire”; akin to Old Norse lyst “desire”; list ⁴

Example Sentences

The half-crazed King, magnificently sung by the ever-disruptive Timur, lusts after Salome by speaking and singing at different speeds he selects on a metronome, as he entices her to type for him.

From Los Angeles Times

Releasing sterilized males involves no pesticides, and also leverages the insect’s biology: Males in lust are adept at finding females.

From Los Angeles Times

Most of the unhappy denizens of Dante’s imagined hell are being eternally tormented for specific moral crimes in categories covering lust, gluttony, greed, anger, heresy, violence, fraud and treachery.

From Salon

In suggesting the price was a smidge too high, the streamer tells us it never really lusted after Warner.

From The Wall Street Journal

In suggesting the price was a smidge too high, the streamer tells us it never really lusted after Warner.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• craving
• desire
• excitement
• fervor
• greed
• hunger
• libido
• longing
• sensuality
• thirst