Meaning & use
yearning
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Meanings
nouncountable or uncountable
A deep, aching wish for something you do not have or cannot easily get.
Grammar: Often followed by for or to: a yearning for home, a yearning to travel.
Patterns
- a yearning for something
- a yearning to do something
She felt a yearning for the quiet streets of her childhood.
His yearning to see the ocean grew stronger every winter.
There was a quiet yearning in her voice as she talked about the old days.
adjectivebefore a nounliterary
Full of a deep, sad wish for something, as in a yearning look.
Grammar: Comes before a noun: a yearning glance.
Patterns
- a yearning look
- yearning eyes
The dog gave the fence a yearning look.
He sent a yearning glance toward the open door.
The song has a yearning melody that stays in your mind.
Word forms
| plural | yearnings |
|---|
Common combinations
- a deep yearning
- He had a deep yearning for peace.
- a yearning for home
- The letters were full of a yearning for home.
- feel a yearning
- I sometimes feel a yearning to start over somewhere new.
- a secret yearning
- She kept a secret yearning to become a painter.
- unfulfilled yearning
- The novel describes unfulfilled yearning between two cousins.
Synonyms and how they differ
- longing
- Longing is the closest word and slightly more general, while yearning suggests a stronger, more painful ache.
- craving
- Craving is physical or urgent, such as for food, whereas yearning is usually emotional and lasting.
- desire
- Desire is a plain, wide word for wanting, without the sadness that yearning carries.
- nostalgia
- Nostalgia is specifically a longing for the past, while yearning can look to the future or to something never had.
Opposites
Word family
- yearn verb
- to feel a deep longing
- yearningly adverb
- in a longing way
- yearnings noun
- plural form for several longings
Commonly confused: yearning or earning?
yearning vs earning
Earning means receiving money for work; it sounds like yearning in some accents but is unrelated.
Practice
After ten years abroad, he felt a strong ______ for the village where he grew up.
Choose one answer.
A yearning for a place means a deep longing for it; argument, reluctance and suspicion do not fit the pattern with for.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “yearning”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.