desire

English

Etymology

From Middle English 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. Displaced native Old English wilnung (“desire”) and wilnian (“to desire”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: dĭ-zīrʹ, dĭ-zīʹər, IPA^(key): /dɪˈzaɪə/
• (General American) enPR: dĭ-zīrʹ, dĭ-zīʹər, dē-zīrʹ, dē-zīʹər, IPA^(key): /dɪˈzaɪɹ/, /dɪˈzaɪɚ/, /diˈzaɪɹ/, /diˈzaɪɚ/

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• Rhymes: -aɪə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: de‧sire

Verb

desire (third-person singular simple present desires, present participle desiring, simple past and past participle desired)

1. To want; to wish for earnestly.

   I desire to speak with you.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Exodus 34:24:

     Neither shall any man desire thy land.

   • 1874, Alfred Tennyson, “Lancelot and Elaine”, in Idylls of the King (The Works of Alfred Tennyson; VI), cabinet edition, London: Henry S. King & Co., , →OCLC, page 88:

     [S]eeing you desire your child to live, / Thanks, but you work against your own desire; […]

2. To put a request to (someone); to entreat.
   • 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt  (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Acts:

     And when they founde no cause of deeth in hym, yet desired they Pilate to kyll him.

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter III, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 15:

     Mr. Barrett, however, by fawning and flattery, seemed to be able to make not only Mrs. Churchill but everyone else do what he desired.

3. To want emotionally or sexually.

   She has desired him since they first met.

4. To express a wish for; to entreat; to request.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, 2 Kings 4:28:

     Then shee said, Did I desire a sonne of my Lord ? did I not say, Doe not deceiue me?

   • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     Desire him to go in; trouble him no more.

5. To require; to demand; to claim.
   • c. 1580, Edmund Spenser, The Teares of the Muses:

     A doleful case desires a doleful song.

6. To miss; to regret.
   • 1651–1653, Jer[emy] Taylor, ΕΝΙΑΥΤΟΣ . A Course of Sermons for All the Sundays of the Year. , 2nd edition, London: Richard Royston , published 1655, →OCLC:

     She shall be pleasant while she lives, and desired when she dies.

Conjugation

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Noun

desire (usually uncountable, plural desires)

1. (uncountable) The feeling of desiring; an eager longing for something.

   Too much desire can seriously affect one’s judgment.

   • 1905, E. M. Forster, Where Angels Fear to Tread , chapter 7:

     He stood...filled with the desire that his son should be like him, and should have sons like him, to people the earth. It is the strongest desire that can come to a man - if it comes to him at all - stronger even than love or the desire for personal immortality.

2. (countable) Someone or something wished for.

   It is my desire to speak with you.

   You’re my heart’s desire.

   • 2013 June 7, David Simpson, “Fantasy of navigation”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 36:

     It is tempting to speculate about the incentives or compulsions that might explain why anyone would take to the skies in [the] basket [of a balloon]: perhaps out of a desire to escape the gravity of this world or to get a preview of the next; […].

3. (uncountable) Strong attraction, particularly romantic or sexual.

   His desire for her kept him awake at night.

4. (uncountable) Motivation. (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Synonyms

• (one or thing wished for): wanna, want-to; See also Thesaurus:desire
• (motivation): wanna, want-to

Derived terms

Related terms

• desirable
• desiring-production
• desirous

Translations

See also

• velleity

Further reading

• “desire”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “desire”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Seider, desier, eiders, eresid, redies, reside

Italian

Alternative forms

• desiro
• disire, disiro

Etymology

Borrowed from Old Occitan dezire.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /deˈzi.re/
• Rhymes: -ire
• Hyphenation: de‧sì‧re

Noun

desire m (plural desiri)

1. (poetic, archaic) desire

   Synonym: desiderio

Related terms

• desio
• desirare

Further reading

• desire in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Anagrams

• derise, resedi, risedé, sederi

Middle English

Noun

desire

1. desire
   • 1470–1483 (date produced), Thom̃s Malleorre [i.e., Thomas Malory], “[The Tale of King Arthur]”, in Le Morte Darthur (British Library Additional Manuscript 59678), [England: s.n.], folio 35, recto, lines 27–29:

     and ſo Merlyon wente forthe vnto kyng lodegean of Camylerde and tolde hym of the deſire of the kyng that þ^t he wolde haue vnto his wyff Gwenyu[er] his douȝt[er]

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Descendants

• English: desire

Romanian

Etymology

From desi +‎ -re.

Noun

desire f (plural desiri)

1. thickening

Declension

References

• desire in Academia Română, Micul dicționar academic, ediția a II-a, Bucharest: Univers Enciclopedic, 2010. →ISBN