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.
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • And because trust and that intense longing felt so middle school to me.
    — Angelina Parrillo, BostonGlobe.com, 4 June 2023
  • In the end, after four years of angst, grief, longing, and growth, Devi and the rest of the Sherman Oaks crew embarked on their new lives.
    — Quinci Legardye, Harper's BAZAAR, 9 June 2023
  • With all of that comes the burden of tolerance, the fiery fight for fairness and – sometimes – a longing for more.
    — Liza Lentini, Spin, 14 Sep. 2023
  • Black folk in many ways innately feel that longing to want to be seen and want to be valued.
    — Globe Columnist, BostonGlobe.com, 23 Feb. 2023
  • The themes are all issues that are of deep concern to me: loss, exclusion, joy and longing.
    — Lisa Deaderick, San Diego Union-Tribune, 21 Oct. 2023
  • The first bite is transformational; the last will be full of longing.
    — Zoe Li, CNN, 2 May 2023
  • This is a novel of survival and longing and love, and in many ways a modern portrait of an artist as a young man.
    — Porochista Khakpour, Washington Post, 8 Aug. 2023
  • The shops at Champs-Élysées only distracted from the longing for my culture for so long.
    — Roxana Becerril, Los Angeles Times, 18 Aug. 2023
  • But the struggle, the longing for what once was, is quietly heartbreaking as the water for the bath runs in the background.
    — Helena Andrews-Dyer, Washington Post, 29 Dec. 2022
  • These are songs about love and longing, regret and revenge, and the thrill of meeting someone who might just change your life.
    — TIME, 25 Oct. 2023
  • But there’s a palpable longing at the heart of this song’s club euphoria.
    — Pitchfork, 4 Dec. 2023
  • Kanellos spent much of last season, when New Trier went 30-4, watching from the bench and longing for his chance to do more.
    — Steve Millar, Chicago Tribune, 13 Mar. 2023
  • Others have died young, leaving us with remnants of glory and a longing for what could have been.
    — Brooklyn White, Essence, 20 June 2023
  • But there’s nothing wrong with feeling a little pang of longing for what came before once in a while.
    — Rachel Tashjian, Harper's BAZAAR, 9 Dec. 2022
  • My whole practice has been so much about the eerie, ghostly longing of these times, rather than being so formal and rigid.
    — Julissa James, Los Angeles Times, 27 Feb. 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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