lust

[ luhst ]

/ lʌst /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR lust ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

intense sexual desire or appetite.

uncontrolled or illicit sexual desire or appetite; lecherousness.

a passionate or overmastering desire or craving (usually followed by for): a lust for power.

ardent enthusiasm; zest; relish: an enviable lust for life.

Obsolete.

pleasure or delight.
desire; inclination; wish.

verb (used without object)

to have intense sexual desire.

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

Nearby words

Origin of lust

before 900; Middle English luste, Old English lust; cognate with Dutch, German lust pleasure, desire; akin to Old Norse lyst desire; see list⁴

SYNONYMS FOR lust

7. crave, hunger, covet, yearn.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR lust ON THESAURUS.COM

Related formsun·lust·ing, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for lust

But I say onto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
Keep Christmas Commercialized!|P. J. O’Rourke|December 6, 2014|DAILY BEAST
She wasn't motivated by a lust for fame; she simply wanted to control the conversation.
Porn Keeps Up with the Kardashians: Belle Knox on the Mainstreaming of Adult Stars|Aurora Snow|September 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The 2014 roster is even more pathetic: About Last Night, Lust for Love, And So It Goes, Sex Tape.
The Romantic Comedy Is Dead|Andrew Romano|July 7, 2014|DAILY BEAST
But despite being repeatedly shot down by experts, the tale of lust in the service of Allah is back.
The Enduring Myth of ‘Sex-Jihad’ Still Sates the Media|Lizzie Crocker|April 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST

And his small-scale sculpture Avarice and Lust (1887) embodies the two sins via a masculine form entangled with a female one.
Mapplethorpe’s Artistic Twin|Sarah Moroz|April 8, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Yet the keenness with which immorality of the particular kind is watched fans the flame of lust.
Expositor's Bible: The Book of Job|Robert Watson
She was the goddess of married love, she became later the emblem of lust.
The Hearts of Men|H. Fielding
The face was flat and broad, its lips the lips of incarnate hate and lust combined.
Tom Clark and His Wife|Paschal Beverly Randolph
The men heard it and their eyes brightened with the lust of battle.
The Blazed Trail|Stewart Edward White
Use Fasting and severe Abstinence, which are the proper Abscissions of the instruments and temptations of lust.
The Curtezan unmasked|Annonymous (a Spiritual Physician)

British Dictionary definitions for lust

lust

/ (lʌst) /

noun

a strong desire for sexual gratification

a strong desire or drive

verb

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

Word Origin for lust

Old English; related to Old High German lust desire, Old Norse losti sexual desire, Latin lascīvus playful, wanton, lustful. Compare listless

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for lust

lust

Old English lust "desire, appetite, pleasure," from Proto-Germanic *lustuz (cf. Old Saxon, Old Frisian, Dutch, German lust, Old Norse lyst, Gothic lustus "pleasure, desire, lust"), from PIE *las- "to be eager, wanton, or unruly" (cf. Latin lascivus "wanton, playful, lustful;" see lascivious).

In Middle English, "any source of pleasure or delight," also "an appetite," also "a liking for a person," also "fertility" (of soil). Sense of "sinful sexual desire, degrading animal passion" (now the main meaning) developed in late Old English from the word's use in Bible translations (e.g. lusts of the flesh to render Latin concupiscentia carnis [I John ii:16]); the cognate words in other Germanic languages tend still to mean simply "pleasure."

lust

c.1200, "to wish, to desire," from lust (n.) and Old English lystan (see list (v.4)). Sense of "to have a strong sexual desire (for or after)" is first attested 1520s in biblical use. Related: Lusted; lusting.

lust

noun

verb (used without object)

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Nearby words

Origin of lust

Examples from the Web for lust

lust

noun

verb

Word Origin for lust

lust

lust