pining
Americanadjective
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suffering with or expressing longing or yearning for someone or something.
Exposing her vulnerability and loneliness, the poet addresses her country as would a pining woman in a letter to her beloved in a distant land.
Her pining vocals on these tracks throb with the loneliness and emptiness of fresh separation.
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failing gradually in health or vitality, especially from grief, regret, or longing.
The day after the altercation he took sick, and continued in a pining and languishing condition till his death, which soon ensued.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of pining
First recorded in 1200–50; pin(e) 2 ( def. ) + -ing 2 ( def. ) for the adjective senses; pin(e) 2 ( def. ) + -ing 1 ( def. ) for the noun sense
Vocabulary lists containing pining
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.
The lack of a son’s POV makes Boy Mom pining both performative and disturbingly real.
From Salon • Jun. 4, 2026
By all accounts, investors are pining for shares.
From Barron's • May 22, 2026
“Audiences are pining for novelty, especially younger demographics.”
From The Wall Street Journal • May 8, 2026
Speaking to the BBC from New York, Baranski said she had been pining to return to her theatre roots for some time.
From BBC • Apr. 16, 2026
When told I'm like the guy still pining for his eight-track tapes, I say, "You have eight-tracks? Where?"
From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris
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.
