pining

[ pahy-ning ]

adjective

1. 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.

2. 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

1. the act or state of yearning or longing, or of gradually failing in health or vitality:

   It’s a story of the pining we all feel for the pleasures of our childhood and the relationships that once held us in safety.

Word History and Origins

Origin of pining¹

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

Example Sentences

Nye’s keen eye for the small, revealing detail — a comforting pine cone, a lost mitten — encourages us to notice and perhaps write about the odd, stray things that surround us.

From Washington Post

With the azalea bushes and dogwood trees blooming and the cheers of fans floating through the tall pine trees, the Masters is an annual sign that spring has arrived.

From Washington Post

This bedside table is made of solid pine and comes in several distressed wood color finishes.

From Popular-Science

A bristlecone pine, for example, can live for a whopping 5,000 years!

From Science News For Students

Made of solid reclaimed pine wood, this TV stand is a sturdy option to hold even your heaviest TVs and media equipment.

From Popular-Science

“My character was only intended to be in the pilot, and started out very weepy and pining for Archer,” says Greer.

From The Daily Beast

Samwell Tarly starts the episode his same old pining, cowering self.

From The Daily Beast

While on her honeymoon with poet W.B. Yeats, she was devastated to discover he was pining for another woman.

From The Daily Beast

As the idea of commercial drones edges closer, one Colorado man is pining for the right to shoot them down.

From The Daily Beast

If the downfall of Alex Rodriguez leaves you pining for a true sports hero, try skateboarder Danny Renaud.

From The Daily Beast

I can't see father pining and fretting himself to death about his son, without doing something to relieve his mind.

From Project Gutenberg

While he was forced to be with us, he was weary of us, pining for his home, counting the hours to the prorogation.

From Project Gutenberg

She knew that Dorian Mountcastle was waiting there, heart-sick and restless, and pining for her presence.

From Project Gutenberg

General Gage and the troops under his command are penned up, pining in inglorious inactivity.

From Project Gutenberg

Yet, somewhere in the city, there must be women pining and longing for that waiting work.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• attitude
• character
• decision
• desire
• determination
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• feeling
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• intention
• mind
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• power
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