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definitions

yearning

[yur-ning]
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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR yearning ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

deep longing, especially when accompanied by tenderness or sadness: a widower's yearning for his wife.
an instance of such longing.

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RELATED WORDS

longing, eagerness, hankering, hunger, fascination, aspiration, thirst, passion, ambition, appetite, craving, urge, love, fancy, infatuation, want, need, ache, liking, craze

Nearby words

  1. yearling,
  2. yearlong,
  3. yearly,
  4. yearly meeting,
  5. yearn,
  6. yearningly,
  7. yeasayer,
  8. yeast,
  9. yeast cake,
  10. yeast nucleic acid

Origin of yearning

before 900; Middle English; Old English gierninge. See yearn, -ing1
Related formsyearn·ing·ly, adverbun·yearn·ing, adjective

Synonym study

1. See desire.

yearn

[yurn]

verb (used without object)

to have an earnest or strong desire; long: to yearn for a quiet vacation.
to feel tenderness; be moved or attracted: They yearned over their delicate child.

Origin of yearn

before 900; Middle English yernen, Old English giernan derivative of georn eager; akin to Old Norse girna to desire, Greek chaírein to rejoice, Sanskrit háryati (he) desires
SYNONYMS FOR yearn
1. Yearn, long, hanker, pine all mean to feel a powerful desire for something. Yearn stresses the depth and passionateness of a desire: to yearn to get away and begin a new life; to yearn desperately for recognition. Long implies a wholehearted desire for something that is or seems unattainable: to long to relive one's childhood; to long for the warmth of summer. Hanker suggests a restless or incessant craving to fulfill some urge or desire: to hanker for a promotion; to hanker after fame and fortune. Pine adds the notion of physical or emotional suffering as a result of the real or apparent hopelessness of one's desire: to pine for one's native land; to pine for a lost love.
SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR yearn ON THESAURUS.COM
Related formsyearn·er, nounun·yearned, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for yearning

British Dictionary definitions for yearning

yearning

noun

an intense or overpowering longing, desire, or need; craving
Derived Formsyearningly, adverb

yearn

verb (intr)

(usually foll by for or after or an infinitive) to have an intense desire or longing (for); pine (for)
to feel tenderness or affection
Derived Formsyearner, noun

Word Origin for yearn

Old English giernan; related to Old Saxon girnian, Old Norse girna, Gothic gairnjan, Old High German gerōn to long for, Sanskrit haryati he likes
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for yearning

yearn

v.

Old English geornan (Mercian), giernan (West Saxon), giorna (Northumbrian), from Proto-Germanic *gernijanan (cf. Gothic gairnjan "to desire," German begehren "to desire"), from *gernaz (cf. Old High German gern, Old Norse gjarn "desirous," Old English georn "eager, desirous," German gern "gladly, willingly"), from PIE root *gher- "to like, want" (see hortatory). Related: Yearned; yearning.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper