lust
Americannoun
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intense sexual desire or appetite.
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uncontrolled or illicit sexual desire or appetite; lecherousness.
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a passionate or overmastering desire or craving (usually followed byfor ).
a lust for power.
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ardent enthusiasm; zest; relish.
an enviable lust for life.
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Obsolete.
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pleasure or delight.
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desire; inclination; wish.
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noun
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a strong desire for sexual gratification
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a strong desire or drive
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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lustsimple
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lustssimple
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have lustedperfect
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has lustedperfect
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am lustingprogressive
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are lustingprogressive
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is lustingprogressive
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have been lustingperfect progressive
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has been lustingperfect progressive
Past
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lustedsimple
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had lustedperfect
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was lustingprogressive
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were lustingprogressive
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had been lustingperfect progressive
Future
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”; see list 4
Explanation
Lust is a strong craving for sex. It also can mean a hunger for anything, like lust for power. While lust isn't a dirty word, it is a strong word. You don't have lust for something you don't really care about. Lust is a strong, powerful desire, whether it's a noun or verb: you lust for things you deeply crave. Someone greedy lusts for money. Someone gluttonous lusts for food. The most basic meaning of lust is an unquenchable desire for sex, but people lust for all sorts of things.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Ian Dench, Derry's bandmate, said: "I can't think of anyone who embodied lust for life like Derry did. I mean, he was beautiful inside out."
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
If you haven’t been following the controversy, Wilson felt that Nolan had flattened the saga by mostly erasing the Greek gods and Odysseus’ wit, lust and thorny contradictions.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026
One woman, Amanda, unexpectedly bowls him over, and as lust is replaced by love the pair become engaged—much to the horror of her wealthy English parents.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
Celtic have not been a good team this season, but they've shown a lust for battle, an ability to keep playing and winning even when their performances have never risen above the mundane.
From BBC ● May 10, 2026
“Good idea,” Bryant said, “except that Mr. Kadalyi is already here; his Aeroflot ship—as usual, he says—arrived early. lust a moment.”
From "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick
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 ● Mar. 27, 2026
She loathes the former and lusts after the latter, and her heightened emotions and cabaret dreams swell to a magnificent, hysterical crescendo unlike Broadway has ever seen.
From Salon ● Jun. 9, 2025
Some of them involve a comically angry Devil who lusts after Cuphead’s soul; others revolve around the Betty Boop-like Miss Chalice or the torch-singing sea monster Cala Maria, who provides Dietrich-accented Hollywood glamour.
From New York Times ● Sep. 28, 2022
The wine industry lusts after millennials, as baby boomers, its core customer base, age into retirement.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 17, 2022
What if their lusts for war and glory and power are mine too and I just don't know it?
From "An Ember in the Ashes" by Sabaa Tahir
In suggesting the price was a smidge too high, the streamer tells us it never really lusted after Warner.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 27, 2026
I’d also lusted after a campy toy that they and Santa Claus had denied me: a hairdresser styling kit with a mannequin doll head.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2023
And the advantage won’t just go to Bellevue but to every city that has lusted for Seattle’s treasures.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 19, 2021
Hett’s history puts Hitler at the center of the story of World War II, explaining that he not only desired war but actually lusted for it.
From New York Times ● Sep. 3, 2020
As I went along I found that more and more people lusted toward Florida and that thousands had moved there and more thousands wanted to and would.
From "Travels with Charley in Search of America" by John Steinbeck
It’s that for various reasons, a lot of Americans are lusting after proof that America is good.
From Slate ● Jun. 25, 2026
On the field, the players will be as fervent as they ever were, lusting for success, trying on stardom but still young and rehearsing for adulthood.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 3, 2021
From Elon Musk to Richard Branson, the wealthiest man on Earth follows a long line of exorbitantly wealthy men lusting for space travel.
From Salon ● Jun. 7, 2021
I will never stop lusting for a good bite.
From New York Times ● Jul. 10, 2020
The real man was an arrogant autocrat, lusting for power and wealth.
From The Trail Horde by Charles Alden Seltzer
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
