Catholic Dictionary
Find accurate definitions of over 5,000 Catholic terms and phrases (including abbreviations). Based on Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.
Your Term:
LIBIDO
Basic term in psychoanalysis for all the instinctive urges of a human person, and particularly for the sexual drive. In moral theology the libido stands for the procreative appetite, with the implication that this appetite is part of fallen human nature and therefore needs divine grace to be controlled. (Etym. Latin libido, desire, enjoyment; inordinate desire; lust.)
