Meaning & use
desire strongly
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Meaning
phrasetransitive
to want something very much, with strong feeling
Grammar: Takes an object: desire strongly a better life. More often written as 'strongly desire something'.
Patterns
- desire something strongly
- strongly desire something
After years of struggle, she desired strongly a chance to start again.
Many people desire strongly to be understood by those they love.
He desired strongly the respect of his colleagues, though he never said so.
Common combinations
- strongly desire
- The workers strongly desire better pay and safer conditions.
- desire something strongly
- She desired the job strongly and prepared for weeks.
- deeply desire
- He deeply desired a quiet life away from the city.
Synonyms and how they differ
- crave
- Crave suggests a physical or almost uncontrollable need, as for food or a habit, while desire strongly is broader and more emotional.
- long for
- Long for is more literary and often suggests sadness or waiting, whereas desire strongly can be neutral or passionate.
- yearn for
- Yearn for is stronger and more poetic, often used for things you cannot have, while desire strongly can be used in ordinary speech.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: desire strongly or want badly?
desire strongly vs want badly
Want badly means want very much, but 'badly' here does not mean 'in a bad way'. Desire strongly is more formal and less common in speech.
Practice
Which sentence uses the phrase correctly?
Choose one answer.
The adverb 'strongly' usually goes before the verb 'desired', and the verb takes a direct object without a preposition. Option A wrongly adds 'for'; C and D use wrong prepositions.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “desire strongly”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.