forbidden desire
Craving the prohibited
Forbidden desire is a longing for something prohibited—by law, morality, religion, or social convention.
The phrase often carries erotic undertones, suggesting attraction to someone or something off-limits: a forbidden desire for his brother's wife.
The forbidden element intensifies the wanting; taboos make objects more alluring.
The phrase appears frequently in romance novels and melodrama.
- temptationUrge toward the unwise
- transgressionViolation of law or code
- tabooCultural or social prohibition
- passionIntense emotional drive
- obsessionPersistent, intrusive preoccupation
stolen glances · ambivalence · inner conflict · moral struggle · crime · yearning · repression · guilt · guilty pleasure · prohibition · secrecy · dark secret · sin · attraction · shame · pining · denial · fantasy
- dark sideinner demons, shadow self, dark thoughts, inner demon, secret self
- drama themesrevenge, betrayal, love triangle, family conflict, power struggle
- seductionseduction, seductive, allure, beguilement, enticement
- Literary Eroticaerotica, erotic fiction, romance novels, adult romance, steamy romance
- sinsgreed, lust, gluttony, deadly sin, sloth
- envy themesjealousy, covetousness, green-eyed monster, resentment, bitterness
accessibility/attainability
forbidden desirefreely given
desire, forbid, forbidden, desirable, forbidding, desirous, forbade