desire

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consumed by desire

Completely absorbed and controlled by one's passion or lust for something or someone. Jonathan found himself consumed by desire to be with Stephen, such that he could no longer pay attention in class. Many men, consumed by desire for a woman, have committed atrocious and sometimes bizarre acts of depravity. Consumed by his desire to rule the world, the dictator was blind to the mutiny of his advisors.

earthly desires

Desires for tangible things (such as wealth, property, or other material goods) or for pleasures of the body (such as sexual activity, gluttony, or other hedonistic pursuits). Buddhism teaches us to try to let go of our earthly desires, freeing our minds and bodies for a state of enlightenment. Because our earthly desires are a reflection of our sins, we should shun them if we wish to receive God's light.

worldly desires

Desires for tangible things (such as wealth, property, or other material goods) or for pleasures of the body (such as sexual activity, gluttony, or other hedonistic pursuits). Buddhism teaches us to try to let go of our worldly desires, freeing our minds and bodies for a state of enlightenment. Because our worldly desires are a reflection of our sins, we should shun them if we wish to receive God's light.

(one's) heart's desire

Something one very much wants or needs. After my six-month tour in Iraq, my heart's desire is just to see my husband again.

See also: desire

to (one's) heart's desire

As much as or to the point that one wants; to the point of contentment, satiety, or surfeit. I've made plenty of food for everyone, so please eat to your heart's desire.

See also: desire

leave much to be desired

To be very inadequate or unsatisfactory; to lack a large amount of what is desired or required. The film has a very interesting premise, but the final product leaves much to be desired. I wasn't expecting a huge amount from a budget hostel, but this place leaves much to be desired nonetheless.

leave a great deal to be desired

To be very inadequate or unsatisfactory; to lack a large amount of what is desired or required. The film has a very interesting premise, but the final product leaves a great deal to be desired. I wasn't expecting a huge amount from a budget hostel, but this place leaves a great deal to be desired nonetheless.

leave lots to be desired

To be very inadequate or unsatisfactory; to lack a large amount of what is desired or required. The film has a very interesting premise, but the final product leaves lots to be desired. I wasn't expecting a huge amount from a budget hostel, but this place leaves lots to be desired nonetheless.

See also: desire, leave, lot

yearning desire

A deep longing. I want to see as much as I can on my trip to England because I've always had a yearning desire to go there.

See also: desire

leave a lot to be desired

To be very inadequate or unsatisfactory; to lack a large amount of what is desired or required. The film has a very interesting premise and a story that has quite a bit of potential, but the final product leaves a lot to be desired. I wasn't expecting a huge amount from a budget hostel, but this place leaves a lot to be desired nonetheless.

See also: desire, leave, lot

desires are nourished by delays

One's interest in something will grow as one waits for it. A: "Ugh, I still haven't heard back from the recruiter at my dream job." B: "At least desires are nourished by delays."

leave something to be desired

To be somewhat inadequate or unsatisfactory; to lack an indeterminate of what is desired or required. The film has a very interesting premise, but the final product leaves something to be desired. I wasn't expecting a huge amount from a budget hostel, but this place leaves something to be desired nonetheless.

Desires are nourished by delays.

Prov. The longer you have to wait for something you want, the more eager you will be to get it. The longer I had to postpone my trip to San Francisco, the more eagerly I wanted to go. Desires are nourished by delays.

leave a lot to be desired

Cliché to be lacking something important; to be inadequate. (A polite way of saying that something is bad.) This report leaves a lot to be desired. I'm sorry to have to fire you, Mary, but your work leaves a lot to be desired.

See also: desire, leave, lot

leave a lot to be desired

Also, leave a great deal or much to be desired . Be imperfect or unsatisfactory. For example, His account of the election leaves a lot to be desired. This usage can also be put in a more positive way, that is, leave nothing to be desired, meaning "to be perfectly satisfactory," as in His account leaves nothing to be desired. [Late 1700s]

See also: desire, leave, lot

your heart's desire

LITERARY

If someone or something is your heart's desire, you want that person or thing very much. Note: The heart is traditionally regarded as the centre of the emotions. He was extremely dishonest in his efforts to achieve his heart's desire.

See also: desire

your heart's desire

someone or something that is greatly wished for.

See also: desire

leave much (or a lot) to be desired

be highly unsatisfactory.

leave a lot, much, etc. to be deˈsired

not be good enough: Your standard of work has gone down. In fact it leaves a great deal to be desired. ♢ The acting in some of those early movies left much to be desired.

See also: desire, leave

References in classic literature ?

This same mode of proceeding I shall have to adopt with thee, for the desire which has sprung up in thee is so absurd and remote from everything that has a semblance of reason, that I feel it would be a waste of time to employ it in reasoning with thy simplicity, for at present I will call it by no other name; and I am even tempted to leave thee in thy folly as a punishment for thy pernicious desire; but the friendship I bear thee, which will not allow me to desert thee in such manifest danger of destruction, keeps me from dealing so harshly by thee.

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He would even risk his cakes and would deliberately desire the most fatal rubbish, the most uneconomical absurdity, simply to introduce into all this positive good sense his fatal fantastic element.

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But whatever it was, he was good to see, and she was irritably aware of a desire to look at him again and again.

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SOCRATES: But if there is no one who desires to be miserable, there is no one, Meno, who desires evil; for what is misery but the desire and possession of evil?

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Then if there be any city which may be described as master of its own pleasures and desires, and master of itself, ours may claim such a designation?

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But suppose he desires to do two opposite things, neither of which will permit him to do the other?

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desires, most people believe that we can know them by an immediate self-knowledge which does not depend upon observation of our actions.

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As he had from a child a taste for painting, and as, not knowing what to spend his money on, he had begun collecting engravings, he came to a stop at painting, began to take interest in it, and concentrated upon it the unoccupied mass of desires which demanded satisfaction.

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Faire Angel, thy desire which tends to know The works of God, thereby to glorifie The great Work-Maister, leads to no excess That reaches blame, but rather merits praise The more it seems excess, that led thee hither From thy Empyreal Mansion thus alone, To witness with thine eyes what some perhaps Contented with report heare onely in heav'n: For wonderful indeed are all his works, Pleasant to know, and worthiest to be all Had in remembrance alwayes with delight; But what created mind can comprehend Thir number, or the wisdom infinite That brought them forth, but hid thir causes deep.

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Now, would anybody think that this room contained a happy, merry party, who desire nothing better than to laugh and dance the hours away?

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But in general and ordinary cases between friend and friend, where one of them is desired by the other to change a resolution of no very great moment, should you think ill of that person for complying with the desire, without waiting to be argued into it?

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I think she was quite sincere when she struggled against her husband's desire to bring him into the studio; I think she was frightened of him, though she knew not why; and I remembered how she had foreseen disaster.

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With his sixty years' experience he knew what value to attach to rumors, knew how apt people who desire anything are to group all news so that it appears to confirm what they desire, and he knew how readily in such cases they omit all that makes for the contrary.

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The desire to write was stirring in Martin once more.

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It took twenty years to implant that desire; and for ten years more that desire has grown.