Crave

//kɹeɪv// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A formal application to a court to make a particular order.
Verb
  1. 1
    To desire strongly, so as to satisfy an appetite; to long or yearn for. ambitransitive

    "to crave for peace"

  2. 2
    plead or ask for earnestly wordnet
  3. 3
    To ask for earnestly; to beg or demand, as from a figure of authority. archaic, literary, transitive

    "I humbly crave your indulgence to read this letter until the end."

  4. 4
    have a craving, appetite, or great desire for wordnet
  5. 5
    To call for; to require as a course of action. obsolete, transitive

    "It is the bright day that brings forth the adder and that craves wary walking"

Synonyms

All synonyms
demanddesirepleadrequirepantpant

Example

More examples

"You should always crave for Chinese food."

Etymology

From Middle English craven, from Old English crafian (“to crave, ask, implore, demand, summon”), from Proto-West Germanic *krafōn, from Proto-Germanic *krafjaną (“to demand”). Cognate with Danish kræve (“to demand, require”), Swedish kräva (“to crave, demand”), Icelandic krefja (“to demand”), Norwegian kreve (“to demand”).

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.