A yearning for something or to do something.

synonym: yen.

Roget 865: desire, wish, fancy, fantasy; want, need, exigency.    mind, inclination, leaning, bent, animus, partiality, penchant, predilection; propensity etc. 820; willingness etc. 602; liking, love, fondness, relish.    longing, hankering, inkling; solicitude, anxiety; yearning, coveting; aspiration, ambition, vaulting ambition; eagerness, zeal, ardor, empressement [Fr.], breathless impatience, overanxiety; impetuosity, etc. 825.    appetite, appetition^†, appetence^†, appetency^†; sharp appetite, keenness, hunger, stomach, twist; thirst, thirstiness; drouth, mouthwatering; itch, itching; prurience, cacoethes [Lat.], cupidity, lust, concupiscence.    edge of appetite, edge of hunger; torment of Tantalus; sweet tooth, lickerish tooth^†; itching palm; longing eye, wistful eye, sheep's eye.    [excessive desire for money] greed etc. 817.1. voracity etc. (gluttony) 957.    passion, rage, furore^†, mania, manie^†; inextinguishable desire; dipsomania, kleptomania.    [Person who desires] lover, amateur, votary, devotee, aspirant, solicitant, candidate, applicant, supplicant; cormorant etc. 957.    [Object of desire] desideratum; want etc. (requirement) 630; a consummation devoutly to be wished;" attraction, magnet, allurement, fancy, temptation, seduction, fascination, prestige, height of one's ambition, idol; whim, whimsy, whimsey^†; maggot; hobby, hobby-horse.    Fortunatus's cap; wishing cap, wishing stone, wishing well.    ... show more