pining
Americanadjective
-
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.
-
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
-
pinings
plural
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of pining
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
Vocabulary lists containing pining
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:
England manager Thomas Tuchel left the United States in July pining for greater control.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
“I wanted her to let Marty have his thing. Deborah wasn’t pining for Marty. She wasn’t hoping it was her at the altar. She was there to support her friend and his choice.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026
After all, it has plenty of the hallmarks of a classic Nolan film: It’s an epic about a tormented hero pining after a wife and grappling with memory loss.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
The lack of a son’s POV makes Boy Mom pining both performative and disturbingly real.
From Salon ● Jun. 4, 2026
And an indication that I was pining for the high times we had had in the big city.
From "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou
Through countless cosmos, breakups, musings and pinings, we felt we knew her – well, the characters she helped craft anyway.
From US News ● Jan. 13, 2014
The older hands laughed at their pinings, derided their complaints, and swore that they would rather die and starve there, than return home with empty purses, to be the scorn and laughing-stock of all Hispaniola.
From The Monarchs of the Main, Volume I (of 3) Or, Adventures of the Buccaneers by Walter Thornbury
His whims ye must follow, His transports though fleet, His pinings too sweet Though often comes sorrow, The thousand delights The wounds of his darts Still charm all the hearts.
From The Imaginary Invalid by Charles Heron Wall
Know, then, oh mortal Mardian! that when translated hither, thou wilt but put off lowly temporal pinings, for angel and eternal aspirations.
From Mardi: and A Voyage Thither, Vol. II by Herman Melville
One day—then comes the feast enchanting That shall all pinings well requite.
From Faust; a Tragedy, Translated from the German of Goethe by Charles Timothy Brooks
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
