How to use desire in a sentence

40 example sentences · verb, noun

Desire means to want; to wish for earnestly. Example: “I desire to speak with you.”

Examples of desire by meaning

verbTo want; to wish for earnestly.

I desire to speak with you.

verbTo put a request to (someone); to entreat.

Churchill but everyone else do what he desired.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter III, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 15

verbTo want emotionally or sexually.

She has desired him since they first met.

nounThe feeling of desiring; an eager longing for something.

Too much desire can seriously affect one’s judgement.
It is the strongest desire that can come to a man - if it comes to him at all - stronger even than love or the desire for personal immortality.1905, E[dward] M[organ] Forster, chapter 7, in Where Angels Fear to Tread, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC

nounSomeone or something wished for.

It is my desire to speak with you.
You’re my heart’s desire.

nounStrong attraction, particularly romantic or sexual.

His desire for her kept him awake at night.
Doesn't my body drive you wild with desire?1972, Jay Presson Allen, Cabaret, spoken by Sally Bowles (Liza Minnelli)

More sentences with desire

The body is driven by desires, but the soul is at peace.From the entry body
Why leave it to chance when a few simple steps will secure the desired outcome?From the entry chance
For Freudians, libido means the desire to "unite and bind" with objects in the world.From the entry libido
The convertible, once the object of his desire, was now the object of his hatred.From the entry object
It is possible to grow the plants as dwarf as one desires.From the entry dwarf
The building may be used for whatsoever purpose the tenant desires.From the entry whatsoever
A strong desire to smash up everything in the room kept flickering in his head.From the entry flicker
The missionary was motivated by a sincere desire to rescue souls from eternal torment in the netherworld.From the entry netherworld
When you have selected your desired settings, X out of the window and return to the document.From the entry x out
The indelibility of the country's old government frustrated those desiring change.From the entry indelibility
The IDE driver is responsible for sending correct LBAs so as to reference the desired file.From the entry LBA
May the New Year bring you both all your hearts' desires.From the entry heart's desire
The man was driven by his love for money and his desire to become the next Bill Gates.From the entry next
I am bending to my desire to eat junk food.From the entry bend
Neither of her daughters showed any desire to marry.From the entry marry
His running of the business leaves something to be desired.From the entry running
She kept scrolling until she found the desired paragraph.From the entry scroll
This is a highly desired holiday home.From the entry desired
Dahmer once again gave in to his macabre desires.From the entry give in
Nothing seemed to satiate her desire for knowledge.From the entry satiate
His desire for that enchantress led him to financial ruin.From the entry enchantress
An oil refinery adds value to crude oil by distilling it into various desired intermediates and end products.From the entry add value
Does your Monstership desire more smelly socks?From the entry monstership
Seduction is the fine art of manipulating people based on physical attraction and desire. Step 1: Be attractive. Step 2: Don't be unattractive.From the entry seduction
The itemization in this game is terrible. All the good items are so rare, it gives players no desire to grind at all.From the entry itemization
Whoever has not abandoned desire for fruits of action and still have self-centered objectives can never become a Yogi or a practitioner of spiritual communion through work.From the entry yogi
Cont repeating all 7 rnds of the chart until your Foot reaches its desired length.2026, Summer Lee, “Color-Block Socks”, in Spin Off, volume L, number 1, page 75. From the entry cont
Her wedding gives her fans the satisfying narrative conclusion that they desire.2026 July 3, Marina Hyde, “The US turns 250 and Taylor Swift gets married. I think we all know which is a bigger deal”, in The Guardian…. From the entry people pleaser
Chatbots tap into our desire to be proved right or to feel special.2025 May 9, Mike Caulfield, “AI Is Not Your Friend”, in The Atlantic, retrieved 10 May 2025. From the entry RLHF
But just as important is her desire to put herself first for the first time.2025 April 18, Mauren Lee Lenker, quoting Grace Blair, “Minka Kelly addresses Quinn's big decision on Ransom Canyon”, in Entertainment…. From the entry put one's own oxygen mask on first
One of my students recently described this modern desire as an attempt to "girlbossify" the past.2025, Daniel J. Schultz, “Multidisciplinary Theory in Religion”, in Jeffrey R. Di Leo, editor, Theory Across Disciplines, page 145. From the entry girlbossify

Meaning of desire

verb To want; to wish for earnestly.
verb To put a request to (someone); to entreat.
verb To want emotionally or sexually.

Full definition of desire

Questions about desire in a sentence

How do you use desire in a sentence?: Desire is used as a verb and noun. For example: “I desire to speak with you.”
What is a short sentence with desire?: “You’re my heart’s desire.”
What does desire mean?: Desire means to want; to wish for earnestly.

Adapted from Wiktionary: desire (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use desire in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/desire. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.