wistfulness

American  

[wist-fuhl-nis] / ˈwɪst fəl nɪs /

noun

1. a mental state or emotion characterized by melancholy, longing, or pensiveness, or an instance of this.

   The film’s visuals occasionally aspire to the dark contours of a graphic novel, and, at other times, evoke the wistfulness of a watercolor painting.

   It's an extreme novel that conveys its dark message with heart and many moments of wistfulness.

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Other Word Forms

• unwistfulness noun

Etymology

Origin of wistfulness

wistful ( def. ) + -ness ( def. )

Example Sentences

Amid the rebuke, brands have recoiled back within the antiseptic neutrality where they’re most comfortable: irrelevant celebrity cameos, cheap millennial nostalgia, unmoored wistfulness for simpler days.

From Slate • Feb. 8, 2026

All of the romance and wistfulness of the concert can’t undo years of heartbreak and resentment.

From Salon • Feb. 5, 2026

When we got home three months later, though, I was surprised by the waves of wistfulness about what I wasn’t coming back to—the sense of accomplishment and purpose and identity, the newsroom camaraderie, the paycheck.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 4, 2025

Schneider said he and many of those active in the Yiddish scene are alive to the "danger of becoming really wrapped in a ball of nostalgia and wistfulness".

From Barron's • Oct. 26, 2025

A mixture of annoyance and amazement and wistfulness that seems different in retrospect.

From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern

Related Words

• boredom
• despair
• desperation
• despondency
• ennui
• gloom
• grief
• sorrow