adjective
-
having or characterized by robust health
-
strong or invigorating
a lusty brew
-
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
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
"The Tempest," Vocabulary from Acts 1 and 2
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
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
A couple of lusty blows got Pepper's strike-rate up to 133.33 when he was out for a 21-ball 28, but that was still way below Brook's 221.42.
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2025
Through the back of the green in two lusty blows, it was now down to touch, feel and nerve.
From BBC ● Oct. 28, 2024
Fresh from four months in federal prison, Navarro arrived on stage to a long and lusty ovation.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 18, 2024
But he was ashamed, and yet half proud too, as one feels himself who is still lusty and a man when others hold him to be only grandfather.
From "The Good Earth" by Pearl S. Buck
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
Professional patriots have always been fair game for satire but few books have ever given them a lustier Bronx cheer than Joseph Heller's sprawling, farcical Catch-22.
From Time Magazine Archive
Many a poor pernicious anemiac, for whom liver meant lustier living, can no longer afford to buy it.
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
Many another superlative can be applied to Trastevere; its poverty is the deepest, its streets and alleyways the most crowded, its feasting the lustiest in all of Rome.
From Time Magazine Archive
Today they are one of the Navy's most vital, loudest and lustiest outfits.
From Time Magazine Archive
Out of this quest has arisen the lustiest, fastest-growing phenomenon in U.S. finance: the investment trust, notably the "open-end" or "Boston-type" trust.
From Time Magazine Archive
It was a season when the lustiest of children wilted with the damp, depressing heat; and the Brenton baby, never lusty, wilted with them.
From The Brentons by Wilson C. Dexter
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.
