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yearning

[ yur-ning ]

/ ˈyɜr nɪŋ /

SEE 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.

Origin of yearning

before 900; Middle English; Old English gierninge. See yearn, -ing¹

synonym study for yearning

1. See desire.

OTHER WORDS FROM yearning

yearn·ing·ly, adverb un·yearn·ing, adjective

Words nearby yearning

yearling, yearlong, yearly, yearly meeting, yearn, yearning, yeasayer, yeast, yeast cake, yeast nucleic acid, yeasty

Example sentences from the Web for yearningly

A key was made and magnetized so thoroughly that never before was a piece of iron so yearningly full of the electric fluid.

The Wolf's Long Howl |Stanley Waterloo
For one long minute he looked at her, searchingly, yearningly; then his outstretched arm fell to his side.

Joscelyn Cheshire |Sara Beaumont Kennedy
Her trembling hands were stretched out before her yearningly.

When Valmond Came to Pontiac, Complete |Gilbert Parker
She looked up at me—for I had climbed to the tree—dumbly, yearningly.

A Maid of the Kentucky Hills |Edwin Carlile Litsey

She held the lapels of his coat and looked tenderly, yearningly, in his face.

The Invader |Margaret L. Woods

British Dictionary definitions for yearningly

yearning

/ (ˈjɜːnɪŋ) /

noun

an intense or overpowering longing, desire, or need; craving

Derived forms of yearning

yearningly, adverb