- present participle of yearn.
yearning
Americannoun
-
yearnings
plural
-
deep longing, especially when accompanied by tenderness or sadness.
a widower's yearning for his wife.
-
an instance of such longing.
noun
Synonym Usage
See desire.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of yearning
First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English gierninge; equivalent to yearn + -ing 1
Explanation
A yearning is a strong desire. If you have a yearning to travel in Africa, it means that you dream about it and intensely hope that one day you'll end up there. A strong longing for something is a yearning for it. If you have a yearning for ice cream, it probably means that you've gone a long time without any and are almost desperate to taste some. The Old English root of the words yearn and yearning is georn, which means "eager or desirous."
Vocabulary lists containing yearning
100 SAT words Beginning with W,X,Y, and Z
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"Joyas Voladoras" by Brian Doyle
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Achievement First 7th Grade IA 1 Words
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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:
“I’m speaking from my obsessive experiences, just yearning for permanence, and doing whatever it took to get a response,” Wolf said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 12, 2026
The record, a gorgeous collection of songs about yearning — for love, self, art, everything — is meant to be shared in a small room.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 29, 2026
The scale and intensity of the crowds evoked a people yearning to lift their eyes above the storms and stresses of our age.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026
"So I was personally yearning for hooks and verses that are as powerful as choruses. Like an Elton John song where the melody just breaks your heart."
From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2026
Blacks around the country were yearning for a newspaper like the Defender that celebrated their success stories and exposed the injustices heaped upon their race.
From "A Few Red Drops: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919" by Claire Hartfield
In a time when teen life is subsumed by alienating digital technology and an understandable risk-aversion, “Nimrods” takes the yearnings of its young punks seriously.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026
While the fan-theorised second finale has not materialised, a behind-the-scenes documentary showing how season five of the hit TV series came to life hopes to satisfy some of those yearnings and burning questions.
From BBC ● Jan. 13, 2026
Mr. Filończyk, making his Met debut, displayed a dark, expressive baritone; it helped contrast the older Joe’s buried trauma and Sam’s yearnings, sung in Mr. Mykkanen’s more open, poignant tenor.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2025
Jimmy Carter once said, “We become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic. Different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes, different dreams.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2024
Names they got from yearnings, gestures, flaws, events, mistakes, weaknesses.
From "Song of Solomon" by Toni Morrison
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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.
