Definition of "libido" in English

noun

1. (common usage) Sexual urges or drives.

   • Good grief man, control your libido!

2. (psychology) Drives or mental energies related to or based on sexual instincts but not necessarily sexual in and of themselves.

   • For Freudians, libido means the desire to "unite and bind" with objects in the world.
   • The ego as an organ which seeks to synthesize thoughts in the psyche is said to be driven by libido or eros.

3. (astronomy, archaic or misused, an occasional carry-over from astrology to astronomy) Synonym of albedo in terms of a planet's, such as that of Mars, average surface spectral reflectivity.