libido
Americannoun
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Psychoanalysis. all of the instinctual energies and desires that are derived from the id.
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sexual instinct or sexual drive.
noun
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psychoanal psychic energy emanating from the id
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sexual urge or desire
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Libido is loosely used to mean sexual desire.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of libido
First recorded in 1890–95; from Latin libīdō “desire, willfulness, lust,” akin to libēre “to be pleasing”
Explanation
Libido is a person's sexual desire. Once a year? Once a week? Once a day? There is no correct answer, because everyone's libido is different. However, you hope your partner's is similar to yours! Libido has only been a word for about 100 years, though the urge to have sex has been around, well, as long as we have. It is Latin for “desire, lust.” You may have heard that the libido changes over the course of a person's life, and that you can even "lose" it if you are, for example, depressed or taking certain medications. People often think famous psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud coined the term. It isn't true, though he did popularize it in his writings on sexual urges.
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.
Both Mills and Saxbe stress that men should be paying attention to symptoms of low testosterone — such as depression and low libido — rather than trying to reach or maintain an ideal number.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 10, 2026
The oral version of minoxidil can cause unwanted hair growth on the face and other areas of the body, while finasteride can dampen libido and lead to erectile dysfunction.
From MarketWatch • Feb. 25, 2026
Clinical evidence so far when it comes to women, suggests that TRT is only effective for treating those who are postmenopausal with low libido.
From BBC • Feb. 14, 2026
In reinventing the groundwater argument for the birth control pill, Heritage does highlight risks to women, including lowered libido, mood swings, infertility, heart attack, and stroke.
From Slate • Nov. 11, 2025
You know that by analysis of the symptoms we arrive at a knowledge of the infantile experiences upon which the libido is fixated and out of which the symptoms are formed.
From A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis by Freud, Sigmund
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.
