Roget's Thesaurus

#865. Desire

Nouns

desire, wish, fancy, fantasy; want, need, exigency. mind, inclination, leaning, bent, animus, partiality, penchant, predilection; propensity etc. 820; willingness etc. 602; liking, love, fondness, relish. longing, hankering, inkling; solicitude, anxiety; yearning, coveting; aspiration, ambition, vaulting ambition; eagerness, zeal, ardor, empressement [Fr.], breathless impatience, overanxiety; impetuosity, etc. 825. appetite, appetition, appetence, appetency; sharp appetite, keenness, hunger, stomach, twist; thirst, thirstiness; drouth, mouthwatering; itch, itching; prurience, cacoethes [Lat.], cupidity, lust, concupiscence. edge of appetite, edge of hunger; torment of Tantalus; sweet tooth, lickerish tooth; itching palm; longing eye, wistful eye, sheep's eye. [excessive desire for money] greed etc. 817a. voracity etc. (gluttony) 957. passion, rage, furore, mania, manie; inextinguishable desire; dipsomania, kleptomania. [Person who desires] lover, amateur, votary, devotee, aspirant, solicitant, candidate, applicant, supplicant; cormorant etc. 957. [Object of desire] desideratum; want etc. (requirement) 630; a consummation devoutly to be wished; attraction, magnet, allurement, fancy, temptation, seduction, fascination, prestige, height of one's ambition, idol; whim, whimsy, whimsey; maggot; hobby, hobby-horse. Fortunatus's cap; wishing cap, wishing stone, wishing well.

Verbs

desire; wish, wish for; be desirous etc. adj.. have a longing etc. n.; hope etc. 858. care for, affect, like, list; take to, cling to, take a fancy to; fancy; prefer etc. (choose) 609. have an eye, have a mind to; find it in one's heart etc. (be willing) 602; have a fancy for, set one's eyes upon; cast a sheep's eye upon, look sweet upon; take into one's head, have at heart, be bent upon; set one's cap at, set one's heart upon, set one's mind upon; covet. want, miss, need, feel the want of, would fain have, would fain do; would be glad of. be hungry etc. adj.; have a good appetite, play a good knife and fork; hunger after, thirst after, crave after, lust after, itch after, hanker after, run mad after; raven for, die for; burn to. desiderate; sigh for, cry for, gape for, gasp for, pine for, pant for, languish for, yearn for, long, be on thorns for, hope for; aspire after; catch at, grasp at, jump at. woo, court, solicit; fish for, spell for, whistle for, put up for; ogle. cause desire, create desire, raise desire, excite desire, provoke desire; whet the appetite; appetize, titillate, allure, attract, take one's fancy, tempt; hold out temptation, hold out allurement; tantalize, make one's mouth water, faire venir l'eau a la bouche [Fr.]. gratify desire etc. (give pleasure) 829.

Adjectives

desirous; desiring etc. v.; inclined etc. (willing) 602; partial to; fain, wishful, optative; anxious, wistful, curious; at a loss for, sedulous, solicitous. craving, hungry, sharp-set, peckish, ravening, with an empty stomach, esurient, lickerish, thirsty, athirst, parched with thirst, pinched with hunger, famished, dry, drouthy; hungry as a hunter, hungry as a hawk, hungry as a horse, hungry as a church mouse, hungry as a bear. [excessively desirous] greedy etc. 817a. unsatisfied, unsated, unslaked; unsaturated. eager, avid, keen; burning, fervent, ardent; agog; all agog; breathless; impatient etc. (impetuous) 825; bent on, intent on, set on, bent upon, intent upon, set upon; mad after, enrage, rabid, dying for, devoured by desire. aspiring, ambitious, vaulting, skyaspiring, high-reaching. desirable; desired etc. v.; in demand; pleasing etc. (giving pleasure) 829; appetizing, appetible; tantalizing.

Adverbs

wistfully etc. adj.; fain.

Interjections

would that, would that it were!, O for!, esto perpetual [Lat.]

Phrases

the wish being father to the thought; sua cuique voluptas [Lat.]; hoc erat in votis [Lat.], the mouth watering, the fingers itching; aut Caesar aut nullus [Lat.]. Cassius has a lean and hungry look [Julius Caesar]; hungry as the grave [Thomson]; I was born to other things [Tennyson]; not what we wish but what we want [Merrick]; such joy ambition finds [Paradise Lost]; the sea hath bounds but deep desire hath none [Venus and Adonis]; ubi mel ibi apes [Lat.].