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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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:
She says she loves her summer job and is very aware many of her friends are at home and longing to be able to work.
From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026
If there are any lessons for Hollywood to learn from “Obsession,” it’s to not take shortcuts to the prize you’re longing for.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
As a form of media, mail-order catalogs themselves were a story of longing and aspiration that came to define shopping as an American way of life.
From Salon ● Jul. 18, 2026
“I understand the longing for the old, for the past, but we cannot hide in the past,” said Merz.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
The old lady couldn’t resist her longing to see her nephew, for she had met Laurie as she took her airing, and hearing of Mr. March’s arrival, drove straight out to see him.
From "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott
He has no apparent convictions, only Freudian longings for an idealized childhood.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 8, 2026
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
‘Gods of Want,’ author K-Ming Chang’s follow-up to her dazzling debut, ‘Bestiary,’ collects stories of young immigrants haunted by ghosts and longings.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 21, 2025
He sometimes had longings to leave veterinary medicine and devote himself full-time to clocks.
From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston
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.
