Desire
Desire noun - A strong wish for something.
Usage example: a desire for adventure and excitement prompted him to travel to Africa
Impulse is a synonym for desire in fancy topic. In some cases you can use "Impulse" instead a noun "Desire", when it comes to topics like inspiration.
Mutual synonyms
Related pairs
How words are described
| human | human desire | human impulse |
| pure | pure desire | pure impulse |
| common | common desire | common impulse |
| natural | natural desire | natural impulse |
| Other adjectives: true, genuine, sheer, selfish, strong, powerful, constant, sexual, inner, new, unconscious, inexplicable, strange, basic, sudden, subconscious, strongest. | ||
Both words in one sentence
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Tolkien's The Hobbit, for Bilbo, the impulse to adventure had grown weak and the desire to go home had gotten very strong.
Source: Home Sweet Home -
Unfortunately, after viewers balked at so many of their favorites being benched, by 1999 that impulse had metastasized into a desire to mock the fans and make them squirm as well.
Source: Literature / The Death of WCW -
Many characters in the Nasuverse have an "inversion impulse", the desire to go psycho and unleash the full power their bitchin' superpowers on the world in an orgy of murder, due to their monstorous bloodlines.
Source: Super-Powered Evil Side
Cite this Source
Impulse and Desire. (2016). Retrieved 2026, July 21, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/desire/impulse
Desire & Impulse. N.p., 2016. Web. 21 Jul. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/desire/impulse>.
Impulse or Desire. 2016. Accessed July 21, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/desire/impulse.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "desire" and "impulse" have occurred on timeline