wistful
Americanadjective
-
characterized by melancholy or longing.
-
pensive, especially in a melancholy way.
- Synonyms:
- forlorn, meditative, musing, contemplative, reflective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of wistful
First recorded in 1605–15; obsolete wist “quiet, silent, attentive” (variant of whist 2 ) + -ful
Explanation
Only one letter separates the two words, but "wishful" is having hope for something, and wistful is having sadness or melancholy about something. "Wist" isn't even a word that's used anymore, but you can still be wistful. People who appear wistful often show a longing for something or a look of serious reflection. One way to describe the adjective wistful is as the sad appearance of someone looking back and thinking "if only..." A thoughtful or pensive mood centered on something good in the past that is missed or something not so good in the present that could have been better "if only" something had gone differently — these things make for a wistful outlook.
Vocabulary lists containing wistful
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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ACT Reading Test: Words to Capture Tone, List 1
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Wistful old men on park benches, homeless people, the lonely — they were all characters or points of view in Mr. Simic’s work, which began appearing in literary journals in the late 1950s.
From Washington Post • Jan. 10, 2023
Life magazine put her on the cover with the headline: “Warmly Wistful Starlet.”
From Seattle Times • Jan. 19, 2022
For the New York Times, Jeannette Catsoulis wrote that the film “grows on you. Wistful but never sentimental, it quietly turns the fortunes of one little store into a comment on the fate of many.”
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 26, 2018
But after 263 years in the job, the Manchester United manager today surprised hacks by reaching deep into his repertoire and unveiling a brand new, slightly worrying version: Wounded Wistful Sympathy-garnering Ferg.
From The Guardian • Oct. 19, 2010
Wistful glances were sent in the direction of Foxwood.
From "Animal Farm: A Fairy Story" by George Orwell
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
