How to Use longing in a Sentence

longing

noun
Definition of longingnext
Synonyms for longingnext
  • She cast a look of longing at the shop window.
  • They looked with longing toward freedom.
  • She never told anyone about her secret longings.
  • The greater the truth, the greater the longing to know it, and the greatest truth of all is God.
    — Mike Kerrigan, WSJ, 21 Jan. 2022
  • That longing to know more led to a road trip in the summer of 2019.
    — Audra D. S. Burch, New York Times, 15 Oct. 2022
  • The key shift here is to a tone laden with longing, even regret.
    — David L. Ulin, Los Angeles Times, 2 Dec. 2022
  • Eid now is no longer a day of laughter, but a day of tears and longing.
    — Simone McCarthy, CNN, 14 Feb. 2023
  • Most of the tunes explored loss, longing and what can happen when the heart goes astray.
    — Bob Gendron, Chicago Tribune, 8 June 2022
  • The same home movies of Christmas morning, the same longing glances across the bar, the same nostalgia, the same heartache.
    — Matt Brennan, Los Angeles Times, 20 Dec. 2023
  • Lewis tells stories through metaphor and the language of longing.
    — Hilton Als, The New Yorker, 19 Dec. 2022
  • The smell of the cigarette gave Frances a sudden longing.
    — Mary Costello, The New Yorker, 9 Oct. 2023
  • The six plays in the collection all have to do with love, the dreams that lead to love, the longing to connect and the courage to take a leap of faith.
    — Matthew J. Palm, orlandosentinel.com, 18 Nov. 2021
  • If the erotic thrillers of the past explored the dangers of lust, Park Chan-wook explores the risks of longing.
    — Shirley Li, The Atlantic, 14 Oct. 2022
  • From a young age, Spears felt dual longings to both hide and be seen.
    — Stephanie McNeal, Glamour, 24 Oct. 2023
  • But the longing, thankfully, isn’t due to some idea of a racial essence that grabs a hold of you and won’t let go.
    — Imani Perry, Harper's BAZAAR, 11 Nov. 2021
  • What makes malls the object of both longing and disdain?
    — Jillian Steinhauer, The New Republic, 22 Aug. 2022
  • The work of Andrés Hernández deals, perhaps above all else, in the act of longing.
    — Seth Combs, San Diego Union-Tribune, 27 Mar. 2022
  • So’s work defines a life of longing — and will leave you longing for more.
    — Bethanne Patrick, Los Angeles Times, 29 Nov. 2023
  • His heart was displayed in a glass bottle in his chest for all to see the many shards of his heart’s longing’s song.
    — Riley Van Steward, Forbes, 10 Jan. 2023
  • When the other set of grandparents lives near the grandkids, the longing can feel worse.
    — Kate Stone Lombardi, Good Housekeeping, 9 Dec. 2022
  • This glimpse leaves me longing for a trailer—or even a mere teaser.
    — Michelle Ruiz, Vogue, 9 June 2022
  • Still, despite longing at times for those old days, Lipe has thrived in the new media world.
    — Tim Casey, Forbes, 13 June 2022
  • The simple purity of it, mixed with the lyrics of death and longing for a better place, twisted a part of me.
    — Marianne Szegedy-Maszak, Washington Post, 13 Apr. 2023
  • With that in mind, Coachella staked this year’s lineup on a certain longing for the past.
    — Paul A. Thompson, Pitchfork, 15 Apr. 2024
  • For Leshchenko, the Special Place had become an object of longing, a time that had passed.
    — Franklin Foer, The Atlantic, 8 Sep. 2022
  • But for now, listen to the longing and see what's underneath.
    — R. Eric Thomas, Washington Post, 25 July 2024
  • But for now, listen to the longing and see what’s underneath.
    — R. Eric Thomas, The Mercury News, 25 July 2024
  • And because trust and that intense longing felt so middle school to me.
    — Angelina Parrillo, BostonGlobe.com, 4 June 2023
  • And that feeling of never-ending longing is Hell for her.
    — Regina Kim, Forbes, 27 Oct. 2024
  • And of course, a romantic drama is going to have life and death and love and risk-taking and courage and terror and mortality and dread and joy and exuberance and longing.
    — Lily Ford, The Hollywood Reporter, 28 Sep. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'longing.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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