Desire is a sense of longing or hoping for a person, object, or outcome. The same sense is expressed by emotions such as "craving." When a person desires something or someone, their sense of longing is excited by the enjoyment or the thought of the item or person, and they want to take actions to obtain their goal. The motivational aspect of desire has long been noted by philosophers; Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) asserted that human desire is the fundamental motivation of all human action. While desires are often classified as emotions by laypersons, psychologists often describe desires as different from emotions; psychologists tend to argue that desires arise from bodily structures, such as the stomach's need for food, whereas emotions arise from a person's mental state. Marketing and advertising companies have used psychological research on how desire is stimulated to find more effective ways to induce consumers into buying a given product or service. While some advertising attempts to give buyers a sense of lack or wanting, other types of advertising create desire associating the product with desirable attributes, by showing either a celebrity or a model with the product.

Desiré (also Désiré, Lai del Desire) is an Old French Breton lai, named after its protagonist. It is one of the so-called . It is 'a fairy-mistress story set in Scotland'. Translated into Old Norse, the poem also became part of the Strengleikar, and the translation is relevant to establishing the archetype of the French text.

Désiré is a French male given name, which means "desired, wished". The female form is Désirée. Désiré may refer to:

• Désiré (1823-1873), French operetta baritone
• Charles Auguste Désiré Filon (1800-1875), French historian
• Désiré Bastin (1900-1972), Belgian football player
• Desiré Delano Bouterse (born 1945), Surinamese politician
• Désiré Charnay (1828-1915), French archaeologist
• Désiré Collen (born 1943), Belgian physician
• Désiré Dalloz (1795-1869), French jurist
• Désiré Defauw (1885-1960), Belgian conductor
• Désiré Dondeyne (born 1921), French conductor
• Désiré Ferry (1886-1940), French politician
• Désiré Girouard (1836-1911), Canadian lawyer
• Désiré Keteleer (1920-1970), Belgian cyclist
• Désiré Koranyi (1914-1981), Hungarian-French football player
• Désiré Mbonabucya (born 1977), Rwandan football player
• Désiré Mérchez (1882-1968), French swimmer
• Désiré Munyaneza (born 1966), Rwandan war criminal
• Désiré Nisard (1806-1888), French author
• Désiré Olivier Bourbeau (1834-1900), Canadian politician
• Désiré Rakotoarijaona (born 1934), Prime Minister of Madagascar
• Désiré van Monckhoven (1834-1882), Belgian chemist
• Désiré Vervoort (1810-1886), Belgian lawyer
• François Désiré Roulin (1796-1874), French naturalist
• Henri Désiré Landru (1869-1922), French serial killer
• Kadré Désiré Ouedraogo (born 1953), Prime Minister of Burkina Faso
• Louis Désiré Blanquart-Evrard (1802-1872), French cloth merchant