lust
/ˈlʌst/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Northern England/ˈlʊst/
lust noun: a feeling of strong desire, especially such a feeling driven by sexual arousal.
Noun
lust (countable and uncountable, plural lusts)
- A feeling of strong desire, especially such a feeling driven by sexual arousal.
- Seeing Leslie fills me with a passionate lust.
- A general want or longing, not necessarily sexual.
- The boarders hide their lust to go home.
- For little luſt had ſhe to talke of ought, […]1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, stanza 21, page 262
- A delightful cause of joy, pleasure.
- An ideal son is his father's lasting lust.
- Pompe, pryde, honour, ryches, and wordly lust, / Parrot sayth playnly, shall tourne all to dust.1521, John Skelton, Speke Parott; republished in John Scattergood, editor, John Skelton: The Complete English Poems, 1983, →OCLC
- Virility; vigour; active power.
- It is reported, that Trees will grow greater, and beare better Fruit, if you put Salt, or Lees of Wine, or Bloud to the Root. The Cauſe may be the Encreaſing the Luſt or Spirit of the Root; […]1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “V. Century.”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William...
Verb
lust (third-person singular simple present lusts, present participle lusting, simple past and past participle lusted)
- To look at or watch with a strong desire, especially of a sexual nature.
- He then thought that all the sins which he had ever committed were personified, and that they all cried out against him. One cried out, I am thy lust, with which thou formerly lustedst unlawfully, and against the precepts of God: […]1845, Samuel Fox, “Anglo[-]Saxon Monks. Theodore. A Monastic Vision. […]”, in Monks and Monasteries; Being an Account of English Monarchism (The Englishman’s Library; XXVIII), London: James Burns...
- Quoth she, “What offence have I committed?” and quoth he, “What offence can be greater than this? Thou sentest after yonder youth and broughtest him hither, on account of the lust of thy heart, so thou mightest do with him that for which thou lustedst.” Said she, “I know not carnal desire. Verily...1886, Richard F[rancis] Burton, transl. and editor, “The Story of King Sulayman Shah and his Niece”, in Supplemental Nights to the Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night […], Shammar edition, volume...
- To desire.
- And I ſaye vnto you that helias ys come alredy / and they knewe hym nott: butt have done vnto him whatſoever they luſted.1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Matthew xvij:[12], folio xxiiij, recto
- [I]t were more conſonant with reaſon, that a man were ſuffered to take to his Proctor ſuch as he luſteth, and may beſt truſt unto of his matier, than be driven to commit the order of his cauſe, being mefortune of great weight, to ſuch a one as he never knew, ne ſaw before. For whan a man is at his...1529, Thomas Cranmer, “Num. XVIII. Archbishop Cranmers order concerning the Proctors of the Court of Arches, shewn to be inconvenient, by a Paper presented to the Parlament, as followeth.”, in John...
lust meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
lust in Hindi
- strong desire, especially of a sexual nature
- वासना vāsnā, राग rāg, काम kām
- general want or longing
- इच्छा icchā
lust in Tamil
- இச்சை, கழிகாமம், காமம், சிற்றின்ப வேட்கை, காமவெறி
lust in Marathi
- lust, sexual desire
- वासना vāsnā
- lust, sexual thirst, carnality
- हव्यास havyās
lust in Urdu
- strong desire, especially of a sexual nature
- شہوت śahvat
More languagesFewer languages
- lust in Bengali
- কাম kam
- lust in Telugu
- వ్యామోహించు vyāmōhiñcu, వ్యామోహపడు vyāmōhapaḍu, తమి tami, మదము madamu
- lust in Malayalam
- കാമം kāmaṁ
- lust in Kannada
- ಲಾಲಸೆ, ಕಾಮಾಸಕ್ತಿ, ಭೋಗಾಪೇಕ್ಷೆ, ಕಾಮತೃಷೆ
- lust in Punjabi
- ਹਵਸ havas, ਹਿਰਸ hiras
- lust in Gujarati
- વાસના
- lust in Sanskrit
- राग rāga, काम kā́ma, रिरंसा riráṃsā, गृध्यति gṛdhyati
- lust in Assamese
- কাম kam
- lust in Nepali
- काम kām
- lust in Pashto
- شهوت šahwát
- lust in Tagalog
- kalibugan
- lust in Arabic
- شَهْوَة šahwa
- lust in Indonesian
- syahwat, nafsu
- lust in Persian
- شهوت šahvat
- lust in Thai
- ราคะ raa-ká, กาม gaam, ตัณหา dtan-hǎa
- lust in Vietnamese
- ham muốn, tham muốn
- lust in Myanmar
- ရာဂ raga., ရမ္မက် rammak, ကာမ kama., တဏှာ ta.hna
Examples of lust in a sentence
- Novv, a ſenſeleſſe dulneſſe ouer-takes mee, and beſots mee; my luſt to deuotion is little, my ioy none at all: Gods face is hid, and I am troubled.1608, Joseph Hall, “Epistle I. To Sʳ. Robert Darcy. The Estate of a True, but Weake Christian.”, in Epistles […], volume I, London: […]...
- Thou sentest after yonder youth and broughtest him hither, on account of the lust of thy heart, so thou mightest do with him that for which thou lustedst.” Said she, “I know not carnal desire.1886, Richard F[rancis] Burton, transl. and editor, “The Story of King Sulayman Shah and his Niece”, in Supplemental Nights to the Book of...
- For whan a man is at his choiſe to chooſe him what Proctor he luſt beſt, if his matier do delay through the default of his Proctor, than, he can blame no body but himſelf.1529, Thomas Cranmer, “Num. XVIII. Archbishop Cranmers order concerning the Proctors of the Court of Arches, shewn to be inconvenient, by a...
- Wherof he that luſte to ſee examples, let hym ſearch theyꝛ lyues. […] If we be an hungred, we luſte foꝛ bꝛeade.1563, The Seconde Tome of Homilies, […], folios 227, verso and 247, verso:
Synonyms of lust
3 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
Forms of lust
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | lusts |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | lusts |
| present participle | lusting |
| past participle | lusted |
| past | lusted |
| second-person singular present (archaic) | lustest |
| second-person singular past (archaic) | lustedst |
| third-person singular present (archaic) | lusteth |
Origin of lust
From Middle English lust, from Old English lust (“lust, pleasure, longing”), from Proto-West Germanic *lustu, from Proto-Germanic *lustuz. Akin to Old Saxon, Dutch lust, Old Frisian, Old High German, German Lust, Swedish lust, Danish lyst, Icelandic lyst, Old Norse losti, Gothic 𐌻𐌿𐍃𐍄𐌿𐍃 (lustus), and perhaps to Sanskrit लष् (laṣ), लषति (laṣati, “to desire”) and Albanian lushë (“bitch, savage dog, promiscuous woman”), or to English loose. Compare list (“to please”), listless.
From Middle English lusten, from the noun.
Words formed from lust
Phrases with lust
Words that rhyme with lust
25 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about lust
- What does lust mean?
- Lust means a feeling of strong desire, especially such a feeling driven by sexual arousal.
- What is lust in Hindi?
- Lust in Hindi is वासना (vāsnā), राग (rāg), काम (kām). See Lust meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use lust in a sentence?
- Novv, a ſenſeleſſe dulneſſe ouer-takes mee, and beſots mee; my luſt to deuotion is little, my ioy none at all: Gods face is hid, and I am troubled.
- What part of speech is lust?
- Lust can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce lust?
- Lust is pronounced /ˈlʌst/ (UK).
- What is the plural of lust?
- The plural of lust is lusts.
Words near lust in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: lust (page history and authors); lust (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); वासना (Marathi) (page history and authors); తమి (Telugu) (page history and authors); കാമം (Malayalam) (page history and authors); lust (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਹਵਸ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); lust (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-uk-lust2.ogg.
Cite this entry: “lust.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/lust. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.