libido
noun
Did you know?
The Latin word libido, meaning "desire, lust", was borrowed by Sigmund Freud as the name for a concept in his own theories. At first he defined libido to mean the instinctual energy associated with the sex drive. Later he broadened the word's meaning and began using it to mean the mental energy behind purposeful human activity of any kind; in other words, the libido (for which Freud also used the term eros, a Greek word meaning "sexual love") came to be regarded as the life instinct, which included sex along with all the other impulses we rely on to keep us alive. But those of us who aren't psychologists use the word simply as a synonym for "sex drive".
Examples of libido in a Sentence
Doreen St. Félix, The New Yorker, 21 Sep. 2024
Symptoms include irregular or missed periods, difficulty getting pregnant, night sweats and low libido, and the condition may lead to infertility.
—Tanyel Mustafa, refinery29.com, 21 Oct. 2024
Menopause is often associated with a range of symptoms, but one that doesn’t get as much attention is the decrease in libido.
—Sandra Rose Salathe, Flow Space, 10 Oct. 2024
Addressing low libido also requires understanding that the source of the problem could be something different altogether.
—Tara Michaela Jones, Them, 10 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for libido 
Dictionary Entries Near libido
Cite this Entry
“Libido.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/libido. Accessed 23 Nov. 2024.
Copy Citation
Share