Lust Meaning
/ˈlʌst/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA feeling of strong desire, especially such a feeling driven by sexual arousal.
nounA general want or longing, not necessarily sexual.
Sentence Examples
Love is merely a lyrical way of referring to lust.
No, I'm not suffering from asthma. I'm moaning in lust!
CEFR Practice Quiz
His ____ for power made him do terrible things to innocent people.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
His ____ for power and wealth eventually led to his downfall and the loss of everything he had.
Word Origin & History
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.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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:
"[T]he vvorld thruſts it ſelfe betvvixt me and heauen; and, by his darke and indigeſted parts, eclipſeth that light vvhich ſhined to my ſoule. 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: […] H[umphrey] L[ownes] for Samuel Macham & E[leazar] Edgar […], →OCLC, 2nd decade, page 108:
"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:
"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 Lee […], →OCLC, paragraph 457, page 119:
"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, […], page 36:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
His ____ for power made him do terrible things to innocent people.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
His ____ for power and wealth eventually led to his downfall and the loss of everything he had.