hanker
Americanverb (used without object)
verb
Synonym Usage
See yearn.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
hankersimple
-
hankerssimple
-
have hankeredperfect
-
has hankeredperfect
-
am hankeringprogressive
-
are hankeringprogressive
-
is hankeringprogressive
-
have been hankeringperfect progressive
-
has been hankeringperfect progressive
Past
-
hankeredsimple
-
had hankeredperfect
-
was hankeringprogressive
-
were hankeringprogressive
-
had been hankeringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of hanker
First recorded in 1595–1605; from early Dutch dialect hankeren (cognate with Dutch hunkeren ), frequentative of hangen “to hang”; see hang
Explanation
To hanker for something is to crave it, or really want it. On a hot, sunny afternoon, you might hanker for a tall glass of sweet iced tea. People often hanker for relatively meaningless things, like chocolate cake or a nap or a new pair of shoes, but you can also hanker after more important things, like a long-lost friend or a new job. If you long for it, you hanker for it. The word's origin is a little fuzzy, but one good guess traces it to the Middle Dutch hangen, "to hang," from the idea of "hanging around" or "lingering."
Vocabulary lists containing hanker
Matilda
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The Witch of Blackbird Pond
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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
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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.
I didn’t understand then that it is possible to hanker deeply after something that is neither pretty nor useful, just because of the person who once used it.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 1, 2026
Those communities also hanker for weather radar to track incoming squalls, Way says.
From Science Magazine • Mar. 8, 2023
When bat droppings are scarce, female Neotrogla hanker for sperm, which is encased in nutritious capsules called spermatophores.
From New York Times • Jan. 10, 2023
“We’ve got to bend, not break. Things like that are going to happen and we’ve got to hanker down and try to get the ball back. I mean, there’s just no excuses.”
From Seattle Times • Nov. 7, 2021
We hanker to go on, even in the face of plain evidence that long, long lives are not necessarily pleasurable in the kind of society we have arranged thus far.
From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas
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.
