lust

1 of 2

noun

ˈləst

Synonyms of lust next

: usually intense or unbridled sexual desire : lasciviousness

He was motivated more by lust than by love.

: an intense longing : craving

a lust to succeed

: enthusiasm, eagerness

admired his lust for life

obsolete

: pleasure, delight

: personal inclination : wish

lust

2 of 2

verb

lusted; lusting; lusts

intransitive verb

: to have an intense desire or need : crave

specifically : to have a sexual urge

Examples of lust in a Sentence

Noun He was consumed by lust. He was driven by a lust for power. Lust for chocolate drew her into the candy store.

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

He is particularly livid over the studios’ purported lust for the likenesses and voices of SAG actors for future AI use. —

Stephen Rodrick, Variety, 13 Sep. 2023 The rapidly growing community’s collective lust has even caused an uptick in sales in the romance genre over the last year, so BookTok girlies’ passionate response to shout out their fave in-book darlings is generally considered an acceptable pastime across the board. —

Niki McGloster, refinery29.com, 2 Aug. 2023 The consensus, however, is the Big Ten’s lust may have been sated by adding the Los Angeles schools. —

Kevin Sherrington, Dallas News, 29 July 2023 Where Jeremiah is lust and vengeance as personified by Reputation, Conrad is living-room dancing and first love, as primarily represented by Speak Now, Folklore, Fearless, and Lover. —

Bella Arnold, Vulture, 24 Aug. 2023 Public uproar eventually killed that proposal, but not Moreno’s lust for a sweetheart deal. —

Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 18 Aug. 2023 During the course of the series, the audience has seen Shiv humiliate Tom, placate him, mock him, lust after him — and in the final image of the two of them, seemingly resignedly accept her fate as his wife, and the mother of his child. —

Kate Aurthur, Variety, 2 Aug. 2023 Since 1983, Nine West has been satisfying our shoe lust with thousands of timeless and fashionable pairs. —

Courtney Leiva, Peoplemag, 24 June 2023 Tomas begins an affair with a schoolteacher named Agathe (Adèle Exarchopoulos); Tomas and Martin separate on bitter terms but soon rekindle their mutual lust. —

The New Yorker, 31 July 2023

Verb

Thirsty fangirls like me loved lusting over Word Up! —

Clover Hope, Pitchfork, 6 Sep. 2023 The desire for a Porsche or a Ferrari is both broad and deep, but to lust after a Lotus is to throw logic and reason out the occasionally malfunctioning power window. —

Brendan McAleer, Car and Driver, 13 Aug. 2023 Thirst Aid Kit became a safe space for lusting out loud… respectfully. —

Kathleen Newman-Bremang, refinery29.com, 31 July 2023 The shot is electric with a secondhand lasciviousness — not lust so much as an appreciation of the lust that the screaming fans will soon exude. —

Vulture, 24 June 2022 Gaunt supermodels curved around rocks, stretching out their sharp and bony bodies, lusting after the ground itself. —

Charlotte Fox Weber, Time, 23 June 2023 Apple just unveiled a Mac many of you have been lusting after for years: a bigger MacBook Air. —

Brian Westover, PCMAG, 6 June 2023 The reasonable thing to do would be to just follow the group, but the animal part of me that lusts for adrenaline and speed takes over. —

Nadine Sander-Green, Outside Online, 11 Oct. 2021 To take the exhibit title at face value, nobody’s lusting possessively after fleece- or foam-covered anything. —

Lori Waxman, Chicago Tribune, 29 Apr. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'lust.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.