Meanings
plural unlusts
- countablerareuncountableDispleasure; dislike.
Poetry for me wove its own spell to secure me against all 'unlusts' - all criticisms - even against joylessness: I was set apart; in safety; as secure - in this way - as he. Who was in that audience, I wonder now? That all was success is certain.
1983, Alison Waley, A Half of Two Lives - countableobsoleteuncountablelistlessness; disinclination.
We fynde in oure silves vnlust and tediousnes to do good.
1526, William Tyndale, A compendious introduction, prologue, or preface into the epistle of Paul to the Romans2 more examples
In all hys meates lette a litle saffron be put:..but it causeth vnluste in the stomacke.
1561, Hieronymus von Brunschwig, translated by John Hollybush, A most excellent and perfecte homish apothecaryeYf you once fawl to lasynes or unlust..than is the scarby redy to catch you by the bones.
1582, diary of Richard Madox
Origin
- Proto-Germanic*unlustuz“listlessness”
- Proto-West Germanic*unlust
- Old Englishunlust“displeasure, dislike”
- Middle Englishunlust
- Englishunlust
From Middle English unlust, from Old English unlust (“displeasure, dislike”), from Proto-West Germanic *unlust, from Proto-Germanic *unlustuz (“listlessness”). Equivalent to un- + lust.
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
unlust. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unlust
“unlust.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unlust. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “unlust,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unlust.
Source: unlust on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.