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Desire vs Earn - What's the difference?

desire | earn |

As verbs the difference between desire and earn

is that desire is to want; to wish for earnestly while earn is to gain (success, reward, recognition) through applied effort or work.

As nouns the difference between desire and earn

is that desire is someone or something wished for while earn is alternative form of lang=en.

desire

English

Verb

(desir)
  • To want; to wish for earnestly.
  • * Bible, Exodus xxxiv. 24
  • Neither shall any man desire thy land.
  • * Tennyson
  • Ye desire your child to live.
  • To put a request to (someone); to entreat.
  • * 1526 , (William Tyndale), trans. Bible , Acts XIII:
  • And when they founde no cause of deeth in hym, yet desired they Pilate to kyll him.
  • *
  • , title=The Mirror and the Lamp , chapter=2 citation , passage=That the young Mr. Churchills liked—but they did not like him coming round of an evening and drinking weak whisky-and-water while he held forth on railway debentures and corporation loans. Mr. Barrett, however, by fawning and flattery, seemed to be able to make not only Mrs. Churchill but everyone else do what he desired .}}
  • To want emotionally or sexually.
  • To express a wish for; to entreat; to request.
  • * Bible, 2 Kings iv. 28
  • Then she said, Did I desire a son of my lord?
  • * Shakespeare
  • Desire him to go in; trouble him no more.
  • To require; to demand; to claim.
  • * Spenser
  • A doleful case desires a doleful song.
  • To miss; to regret.
  • * Jeremy Taylor
  • She shall be pleasant while she lives, and desired when she dies.

    Noun

    (en-noun)
  • (countable) Someone or something wished for.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author=David Simpson
  • , volume=188, issue=26, page=36, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Fantasy of navigation , passage=It is tempting to speculate about the incentives or compulsions that might explain why anyone would take to the skies in [the] basket [of a balloon]: perhaps out of a desire to escape the gravity of this world or to get a preview of the next; […].}}
  • (uncountable) Strong attraction, particularly romantic or sexual.
  • (uncountable) Motivation.
  • (uncountable) The feeling of desire.
  • Synonyms

    * (one or thing wished for) wanna, want-to * (motivation) wanna, want-to

    See also

    * velleity

    Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    * * English control verbs

    earn

    English

    Etymology 1

    Old English earnian

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (lb) To gain (success, reward, recognition) through applied effort or work.
  • :
  • *
  • *:Carried somehow, somewhither, for some reason, on these surging floods, were these travelers, of errand not wholly obvious to their fellows, yet of such sort as to call into query alike the nature of their errand and their own relations. It is easily earned repetition to state that Josephine St. Auban's was a presence not to be concealed.
  • *{{quote-news, year=2011, date=November 12, work=BBC Sport
  • , title= International friendly: England 1-0 Spain , passage=England will not be catapulted among the favourites for Euro 2012 as a result of this win, but no victory against Spain is earned easily and it is right they take great heart from their efforts as they now prepare to play Sweden at Wembley on Tuesday.}}
  • (lb) To receive payment for work.
  • :
  • :(rfex)
  • (lb) To receive payment for work.
  • :
  • (lb) To cause (someone) to receive payment or reward.
  • :
  • (lb) To be worthy of.
  • :
  • Synonyms
    * (gain through applied effort or work) deserve, merit, garner, win * * * (cause someone to receive payment or reward) yield, make, generate, render
    Derived terms
    * earner * earnings * earn one's keep

    Etymology 2

    Anglo-Saxon irnan to run. See rennet, and compare yearnings.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (UK, dialect, dated) To curdle, as milk.
  • Etymology 3

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (obsolete) To long; to yearn.
  • * Spenser
  • And ever as he rode, his heart did earn / To prove his puissance in battle brave.
  • (obsolete) To grieve.
  • Etymology 4

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (Sir Walter Scott)
    (Webster 1913)

    Anagrams

    * 1000 English basic words ----