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:
The guys making mid-to-high six-figure salaries aren’t connected with the average lovelorn, longing moviegoer — go figure!
From Salon ● Oct. 26, 2026
Here, proximity expands the drama, the longing, the mystery.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026
The only way through this marital disconnect and fear of and longing for retirement is through the figures.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 13, 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
“You literally just said he’s spying on you, Ingrid. Twice. Obviously he saw all your longing looks toward Miss Joy’s cart, so at least he’s using his ill-gotten knowledge for good.”
From "Bye Forever, I Guess" by Jodi Meadows
I discussed and debated life’s big questions and foundational topics with my celly: the complication of family dynamics, our greatest fears and regrets, our deepest longings for the future.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 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
One of our most fundamental longings as social beings is to belong, especially to a community.
From Salon ● Aug. 27, 2024
Can he deny his flesh and blood longings and his yearning for relief from an enduring sorrow?
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 23, 2024
Maybe all of us at Hailsham had little secrets like that—little private nooks created out of thin air where we could go off alone with our fears and longings.
From "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
