- 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:
The former song is a prog-rock instrumental, while the latter is a yearning piece about striving for success: “I’ve got to keep on chasin’ a dream / I’ve gotta be on my way.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026
The hazy love melody “Tremenda,” for example, underscores an intense yearning for connection.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026
That era’s prime-time schedules illustrate the tension between insistent progress and a yearning for supposedly simpler times – a feeling similar to what we’re experiencing now.
From Salon ● Jul. 11, 2026
He is speaking to us trackside at Crystal Palace, its grandstands and shuttered scoreboard almost silenced and yearning to return to their former glory.
From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026
He found himself staring out windows, wistful, yearning for that distant, unattainable horizon.
From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor
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
In imagining her disturbed perceptions, the novel shows the old dog’s circumscribed world transfigured by long forgotten yearnings and powerfully altered understandings.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 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
Brody: There are opportunities of creative fulfillment, and that is such a deep part of any artistic person’s yearnings.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 5, 2025
I told your father about all the questions and yearnings that had been growing within me for years.
From "I Can Make This Promise" by Christine Day
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.
