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desire

If you're talking about the longings of the heart, use the word desire. When you are studying for a difficult history exam, the desire to be somewhere far away doing something fun might be very strong!

Desire can be used as both a noun and a verb. Is your boyfriend your heart's desire? Your parents probably desire your punctual appearance at the dinner table every evening. Desire is usually used not just when you long for any old thing, but for something that is associated with giving great pleasure. Thus, you might want to get an A on a test, but you desire a piece of chocolate cake.

DEFINITIONS OF: desire

n the feeling that accompanies an unsatisfied state

Types:: show 33 types...; hide 33 types...; ambition, aspiration, dream
a cherished desire; bloodlust
a desire for bloodshed; temptation
the desire to have or do something that you know you should avoid; craving
an intense desire for some particular thing; want, wish, wishing
a specific feeling of desire; hungriness, longing, yearning
prolonged unfulfilled desire or need; concupiscence, eros, physical attraction, sexual desire
a desire for sexual intimacy; itch, urge
a strong restless desire; caprice, impulse, whim
a sudden desire; American Dream
the widespread aspiration of Americans to live better than their parents did; emulation
ambition to equal or excel; nationalism
the aspiration for national independence felt by people under foreign domination; appetence, appetency, appetite
a feeling of craving something; addiction
an abnormally strong craving; velleity
a mere wish, unaccompanied by effort to obtain; hankering, yen
a yearning for something or to do something; pining
a feeling of deep longing; wishfulness
an unrealistic yearning; wistfulness
a sadly pensive longing; nostalgia
longing for something past; erotic love, love, sexual love
a deep feeling of sexual desire and attraction; aphrodisia
a desire for heterosexual intimacy; anaphrodisia
decline or absence of sexual desire; passion
a feeling of strong sexual desire; sensualism, sensuality, sensualness
desire for sensual pleasures; amativeness, amorousness, eroticism, erotism, sexiness
the arousal of feelings of sexual desire; fetish
a form of sexual desire in which gratification depends to an abnormal degree on some object or item of clothing or part of the body; libido
(psychoanalysis) a Freudian term for sexual urge or desire; lecherousness, lust, lustfulness
a strong sexual desire; nymphomania
abnormally intense sexual desire in women; satyriasis
abnormally intense sexual desire in men; the hots
intense sexual desire; discontent, discontentedness, discontentment
a longing for something better than the present situation

Type of:: feeling
the experiencing of affective and emotional states

n an inclination to want things

“a man of many desires”

Types:: show 5 types...; hide 5 types...; hunger, hungriness, thirst, thirstiness
strong desire for something (not food or drink); greed
excessive desire to acquire or possess more (especially more material wealth) than one needs or deserves; avarice, avariciousness, covetousness, cupidity
extreme greed for material wealth; possessiveness
excessive desire to possess or dominate; acquisitiveness
strong desire to acquire and possess

Type of:: inclination, tendency
a characteristic likelihood of or natural disposition toward a certain condition or character or effect

n something that is desired

Types:: passion, rage
something that is desired intensely; materialism, philistinism
a desire for wealth and material possessions with little interest in ethical or spiritual matters

Type of:: arousal
a state of heightened physiological activity

v feel or have a desire for; want strongly

Synonyms:: want

Types:: show 22 types...; hide 22 types...; crave, hunger, lust, starve, thirst
have a craving, appetite, or great desire for; fancy, go for, take to
have a fancy or particular liking or desire for; miss
feel or suffer from the lack of; hope
be optimistic; be full of hope; have hopes; wish
hope for; have a wish; wish, wish well
feel or express a desire or hope concerning the future or fortune of; care, like, wish
prefer or wish to do something; itch, spoil
have a strong desire or urge to do something; like
want to have; ambition
have as one's ambition; feel like
have an inclination for something or some activity; begrudge, envy
be envious of; set one's heart on; lech after, lust after
have a strong sexual desire for; hanker, long, yearn
desire strongly or persistently; seek
try to get or reach; regret
feel sad about the loss or absence of; ache, languish, pine, yearn, yen
have a desire for something or someone who is not present; please
be the will of or have the will (to); hope, trust
expect and wish; covet
wish, long, or crave for (something, especially the property of another person); bid
make a serious effort to attain something; quest
make a search (for)

v express a desire for

Type of:: bespeak, call for, quest, request
express the need or desire for; ask for

v expect and wish

Synonyms:: hope, trust

Type of:: wish
hope for; have a wish

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