to lust after
3
6.2
- phrasal verb
- /lʌst ˈæftər/
- Informal
:
anhelar
- The problem comes when we lust after it, making money and riches our God.
My mom and I have both lusted after them, but I just like never felt like the styles that they came in really met my needs.
- My mom and I have both lusted after them, but I just like never felt like the styles that they came in really met my needs.
- But how could he satisfy such relentless desires when each one of them lusted after all that a single man had in his power, Right.
Examples
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Call me old-fashioned, but I have a hard time lusting after a cheater.
Blog text (8) -
My values are similar to those you outline, and it seems to me neither of us is driven to control the lives of others. Those I deal with who lust after power are usually unbalanced.
Blog text (4) -
And so, for the first time in my life, I was lusting after luxury.
-
Because it's about yearning for and lusting after something you can never have.
Fiction book (1998) -
I've just gotten a lot pickier about what food I lust after over the years, I guess.
Blog text (4) -
I LOVE my 2-year-old toddler girl, but there are many moments of lusting after a baby-free life.
Blog text (28) -
I spent months lusting after Chanel Blush De Horizon, a gorgeous pink blush with various different colored stripes.
Blog text (19) -
I'm lusting after gorgeous, squishable yarn and raring to write things more interesting than utilitarian emails.
Blog text (1) -
While Carmen Electra may be the more famous of the Pussycat Dolls, it's the group's current lead singer, Nicole Scherzinger, who has recently emerged as the most lusted-after member of the Los Angeles-based dance ensemble.
Blog text (5) -
Many teenagers often lust after the latest smartphones that their friends have.
Synonyms
103
3.8
To want something very much
39
6.7
To want something very much, especially something someone else has
30
6.3
To want something very strongly, often something forbidden
8
5.2
To have a strong wish for something
5
7.4
To want something very much for a long time
To have a strong desire for something you want a lot
To want someone or something very much
How Strong
Surface Forms
Morphology
lust + after
The phrase is transparently built from 'lust' (intense desire) plus the prepositional marker 'after' indicating the target, so 'lust after X' straightforwardly means to desire X strongly. Although 'lust' often carries sexual connotations, its figurative extension to material or abstract targets is regular in English, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would likely infer the meaning.
Etymology
Lust after also paints the picture of always reaching for something you want, where lust = strong want and after = going toward it. Imagine someone stretching out their hand for a prize or power they cannot have. So it now often means 'to feel a very strong desire or craving for something'.