yearning
Americannoun
-
deep longing, especially when accompanied by tenderness or sadness.
a widower's yearning for his wife.
-
an instance of such longing.
noun
Related Words
See desire.
Other Word Forms
- unyearning adjective
- yearningly adverb
Etymology
Origin of yearning
First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English gierninge; equivalent to yearn + -ing 1
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.
A recent social-media trend has people sharing photos from 2016 and yearning for a time when bloggers had not yet turned into influencers and social media still was something of a novelty for many.
From MarketWatch
Somewhere between a yearning for motherhood and a woman’s understandable hesitation about it is where the bulk of O’Hara’s onscreen interpretations lived — confidently, outlandishly, and except for Kate, clad in eccentricity.
From Salon
“We want everybody to be left yearning,” Brady adds.
From Los Angeles Times
The song also reminded Americans what they were fighting for and captured a yearning to be home with family during the festive season.
“There’s a yearning for what many people remember as a slower pace.”
Definitions 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.
