adjective
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having or characterized by robust health
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strong or invigorating
a lusty brew
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lustful
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of lusty
Middle English word dating back to 1175–1225; see origin at lust, -y 1
Explanation
Someone who's lusty is healthy and passionate. A lusty young farm worker is strong and energetic, tackling each new challenge enthusiastically. You can be lusty in love, yearning for or infatuated with another person. You can also be lusty for life, filled with great strength and eager to live each day to the fullest. As time has gone by, lust and lusty have gained the "full of desire" meaning and lost some of the thirteenth century "joyful" sense of the words.
Vocabulary lists containing lusty
"Of Plymouth Plantation," Vocabulary from the historical account
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"The Tempest," Vocabulary from Acts 1 and 2
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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:
Fans who had previously been happy cheering wins with lusty renditions of “Sweet Caroline” don’t mind that it has been shoved aside.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 11, 2026
Experiencing Flight of the Conchords at the Greek is something many fans of their lusty, yet-bone-dry musical comedy haven’t gotten to experience in a while.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 13, 2026
A few lusty blows from Shepherd, Matthew Forde and debutant Terrance Hinds got West Indies beyond 150 but, with Buttler in such fine form, England made light work of knocking off the runs.
From BBC ● Nov. 10, 2024
Inspired by the story of John Addington Symonds and Havelock Ellis, two British scholars of homosexuality in a deeply homophobic Victorian era, Crewe’s debut is by turns lusty, elegant and deeply informed by history.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 5, 2023
There was some light applause from the crowd and a conspicuous lusty cheer from the back of the tent that could only have come from a clump of my brothers.
From "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly
Its cuisine is arguably less sophisticated than Provence’s, and yet it is more firmly rooted in the land it sprang from, and it is, I put to you, enjoyed with lustier abandon.
From New York Times ● Mar. 15, 2017
Heartthrob invokes somber, marble notebook dumps as truthfully as it portrays its lustier foil.
From Time ● Feb. 1, 2013
Many a poor pernicious anemiac, for whom liver meant lustier living, can no longer afford to buy it.
From Time Magazine Archive
CAB Chairman Ross Rizley feels that the time has come for additional service, lustier competition and new route awards.
From Time Magazine Archive
The Germans sang lustier and more voices came in until they killed the parody even as they had killed “Auld Lang Syne.”
From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith
A year after the loudest and lustiest of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments was played amid eerie silence and empty seats, the U.S.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2021
Loudest and lustiest of all is the fast-growing Sunday Pictorial, edited by 36-year-old Hugh Cudlipp, younger brother of Editor Percy Cudlipp of Labor's Daily Herald.
From Time Magazine Archive
First big phonographic collection of works by Heitor Villa-Lobos, Brazil's No. i composer and one of the lustiest living.
From Time Magazine Archive
Air conditioning." says Chemist Arthur Dehon Little's Industrial Bulletin, "is probably the lustiest and liveliest of the present-day infant industries.
From Time Magazine Archive
A generation ago he was the lustiest lad in Jersey, his birthplace.
From The War After the War by Marcosson, Isaac Frederick
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.
