desire
verbEtymology
From Middle English desir, desire (noun) and desiren (verb), from Old French desirer, desirrer, from Latin dēsīderō (“to long for, desire, feel the want of, miss, regret”), apparently from de- + sidus (in the phrase de sidere, "from the stars") in connection with astrological hopes. Compare consider and desiderate. The verb, along with Old Norse derived want (verb), has mostly replaced native will in modern English.
Definitions
To want
To want; to wish for earnestly.
- I desire to speak with you.
- Neither shall any man desire thy land.
- [S]eeing you desire your child to live, / Thanks, but you work against your own desire; […]
To put a request to (someone)
To put a request to (someone); to entreat.
- And when they founde no cause of deeth in hym, yet desired they Pilate to kyll him.
- Mr. Barrett, however, by fawning and flattery, seemed to be able to make not only Mrs. Churchill but everyone else do what he desired.
To want emotionally or sexually.
- She has desired him since they first met.
›+ 7 more definitionsshow fewer
To express a wish for
To express a wish for; to entreat; to request.
- Then shee said, Did I desire a sonne of my Lord ? did I not say, Doe not deceiue me?
- Desire him to go in; trouble him no more.
To require
To require; to demand; to claim.
- A doleful case desires a doleful song.
To miss
To miss; to regret.
- She shall be pleasant while she lives, and desired when she dies.
The feeling of desiring
The feeling of desiring; an eager longing for something.
- Too much desire can seriously affect one’s judgement.
Someone or something wished for.
- It is my desire to speak with you.
- You’re my heart’s desire.
Strong attraction, particularly romantic or sexual.
- His desire for her kept him awake at night.
- Doesn't my body drive you wild with desire?
Motivation.
The neighborhood
- synonymwant-to
- synonymambition
- synonymappetite
- synonymappetition
- synonymaspiration
- synonymavidity
- synonymcacoethes
- synonymconcupiscence
- synonymcraving
- synonymcupidity
- synonymdesire
- synonymdream
- antonymapathy
- antonymcontempt
- antonymdisinterest
- antonymdistaste
- antonymhatred
- neighbordesideratum
- neighbordesirability
- neighbordesirableness
- neighborsidereal
- neighborundesirability
- neighborundesirableness
- neighbordesirable
- neighbordesiring-production
- neighbordesirous
- neighborvelleity
- neighborintention
- neighborpine
Derived
desired effect, desiring-production, desirive, leave a lot to be desired, leave much to be desired, leave something to be desired, alphabet of desire, baptism of desire, counterdesire, desirably, desireful, desireless, desire line, desirement, desire path, heart's desire, mimetic desire, misdesire, nondesire, to a desire, undesire
Vish — recursive loop
A definitional loop anchored at desire. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.
A definitional loop anchored at desire. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.
8 hops · closes at desire
curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA