longing
Americannoun
-
longings
plural
-
strong, persistent desire or craving, especially for something unattainable or distant.
filled with longing for home.
- Synonyms:
- aspiration
- Antonyms:
- apathy
-
an instance of this.
a sudden longing to see old friends.
adjective
noun
adjective
Synonym Usage
See desire.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of longing
First recorded before 1000; Middle English; Old English langung; equivalent to long 2 + -ing 1
Explanation
A longing is a strong feeling of need or desire for someone or something. If you're stuck in detention and all of your friends are outside enjoying a sunny day, you might be looking out the window with longing. A longing describes an unfulfilled desire. The days might feel long as long as you are longing to see someone you love, if that person is far away. You might be longing for your mother's home-made chicken soup, if you are sick and far from home. Or perhaps you are a pregnant woman, wide awake and longing for pickles and ice-cream at four in the morning. Let's hope there's a twenty-four hour deli open somewhere to help satisfy your longing.
Vocabulary lists containing longing
Beowulf vocabulary
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Copper Sun
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Out of the Dust
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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.
See Examples For:
"The first thing I said to him, apart from the usual greetings, was that everybody was worried about him, was looking for him, was longing to see him," Pepper told the BBC.
From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2026
After processing the heartache of losing another parent in a different way, Tomlinson allowed herself to miss the good memories with her father and assuage any longing for revenge.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026
The Queen says she was "longing" to share her experience while launching a cancer support centre just days after learning of her husband's diagnosis, according to the Daily Express.
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026
But as my confinement continued, even through my longing to be home, I felt an indisputable change that could only be tied to the lack of a smartphone.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
“Now, Beth,” said Amy, longing for her turn, but ready to wait.
From "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott
His voice - bruised, buttery and intimate - has been an inescapable undercurrent of Bollywood, narrating heartbreaks, longings and reconciliations for millions for more than a decade.
From BBC ● Jan. 28, 2026
But if there were any chance of changing my mind and taking the plunge, watching “Welcome to Derry” has permanently exorcised any phantom longings.
From Salon ● Nov. 9, 2025
The setting is still a Swiss alpine hamlet, but the villagers are all members of some puritanical sect and its sleepwalking heroine, Amina, has longings that transcend its limits.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2025
Michael, the default English department heartthrob who satisfies his artistic longings by publishing book-long cantos, isn’t fated for such greatness.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2024
It is a happy thing that time quells the longings of vengeance and hushes the promptings of rage and aversion.
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
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.
