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:
It’s easy to get lost in its layers of strings, to chase a cello’s lusty glide past innocent piano notes.
From Salon ● Oct. 23, 2026
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
Fresh from four months in federal prison, Navarro arrived on stage to a long and lusty ovation.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 18, 2024
The Warriors survived and a lusty roar went up from their support, That summed it up.
From BBC ● Dec. 8, 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
Antwerp, Belgium "Women are tougher, stronger and lustier than anyone ever thought."
From Time Magazine Archive
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
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
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
Frederic Langford's topnotes were the lustiest and Frederic Langford was fairly dithering when he knew that he had won.
From Time Magazine Archive
The collection was the achievement of a lifetime of picture-buying by one of Philadelphia's lustiest characters, the late, great corporation lawyer John G. Johnson.
From Time Magazine Archive
The Choral Society sang their lustiest, and there were speeches.
From A Child of the Jago by Arthur Morrison
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