Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary - desire

(desires, desiring, desired) Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. 1. A desire is a strong wish to do or have something. I had a strong desire to help and care for people... They seem to have lost their desire for life. N-COUNT: oft N to-inf, N for n 2. If you desire something, you want it. (FORMAL) She had remarried and desired a child with her new husband... But Fred was bored and desired to go home... VERB: no cont, V n, V to-inf • desired You may find that just threatening this course of action will produce the desired effect... ADJ: ADJ n 3. Desire for someone is a strong feeling of wanting to have sex with them. Teenage sex, for instance, may come not out of genuine desire but from a need to get love. N-UNCOUNT 4. If you say that something leaves a lot to be desired, you mean that it is not as good as it should be. The selection of TV programmes, especially at the weekend, leaves a lot to be desired... PHRASE: V inflects c darkgreen]disapproval