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
The celebration of Ben Gannon-Doak scoring to make it 3-1 and Ryan Christie scoring to make it 3-2 were loud and lusty, but this was somehow different.
From BBC ● Nov. 15, 2025
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
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
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
The lustiest cheers at the vast military parade marking Israel's 25th anniversary in Jerusalem last May were neither for tanks and paratroopers passing the reviewing stand nor Phantoms whooshing overhead.
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 infant is now one of the lustiest war babies, may grow so big on war profits that it will be able to go on thriving after the war.
From Time Magazine Archive
Of all drinkers of sōma he is the lustiest; he swills many lakes of it, and he eats mightily of the flesh of bulls and buffaloes.
From Hindu Gods And Heroes Studies in the History of the Religion of India by Lionel D. Barnett
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.
