English

Noun

concupiscence ‎(countable and uncountable, plural concupiscences)

1. An ardent desire, especially sexual desire; lust.
   • Quite certainly you command me to refrain from concupiscence of the flesh and concupiscence of the eyes and worldy pride. — St. Augustine, The Confessions X, 30, 41. Trans Maria Boulding.
   • 1888, Henry James, The Aspern Papers.

     Poor Miss Tita's sense of her failure had produced an extraordinary alteration in her, but I had been too full of my literary concupiscence to think of that. Now I perceived it; I can scarcely tell how it startled me.

   • He was torn by two intense and conflicting desires: his ardent wish to advance through his association with Mr. Browning, and his concupiscence. — Please Pass the Guilt, Rex Stout, 1973.
   • Skaters, spinning like atoms across fields of pure light, are desirable in a way that transcends mere concupiscence; they inhabit another element, and the man who would try to catch one risks, literally, falling on his ass. — Newsweek, Winter 1994.
   • For usage examples of this term, see Citations:concupiscence.

Related terms

• concupiscent adj

Translations

French

Etymology

From Latin concupiscentia, from concupīscō ‎(“I desire strongly, I desire eagerly; I covet”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.ky.pi.sɑ̃s/

Noun

concupiscence f ‎(uncountable)

1. concupiscence