hanker
verb (used without object)
to have a restless or incessant longing (often followed by after, for, or an infinitive).
were hankering
-
past progressiveof hanker.past progressive
Used to describe an ongoing action or continuous state that was happening at a specific time in the past.
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.
Above all, though, the commission’s recommendations faced resistance among the museum’s curators to the sort of great-man-of-history approach that Brooks and others were hankering for.
From Salon ● Sep. 25, 2026
Fans were hankering for another episode of the Bodega Boys podcast, which hadn’t released new content since November.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 20, 2022
After the results of a survey revealed Brooklyn Heights residents were hankering for a bakery, the neighborhood association showed L’Appartement 4F a number of storefronts on Montague Street before landing on 115.
From The Verge ● Aug. 25, 2021
Or you might realize that you weren’t giving every Cathy Waterman stud in your collection sufficient ear time and yet were hankering for an Anita Ko climber.
From The New Yorker ● Oct. 14, 2019
But there was one drawback—at least, for Henry Burns and Harvey, who were hankering for the grip of a tiller and the thrill of a boat under sail.
From The Rival Campers Ashore The Mystery of the Mill by Ruel Perley Smith
