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”; 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

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 • Mar. 8, 2026

“The real evils in war,” St. Augustine once wrote, are “love of violence, revengeful cruelty, fierce and implacable enmity, wild resistance, and the lust of power.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 16, 2025

The latter, afflicted by “the incurable disease of mediocrity,” has led a disappointing life yet still possesses a lust for it.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 4, 2025

The Viennese fondness for him may well be that, in his exuberance, he lets them live it up, even when that might mean chipping the china a little in his lust for splashy spectacle.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 14, 2025

These influential institutions and individuals were driven by greed and lust for power to exploit and attack others outside Europe.

From "An Indigenous People’s History of the United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

Related Words

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