Longing
//ˈlɔːŋɪŋ// adj, noun, verb
adj, noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 An earnest and deep, not greatly passionate, but rather melancholic desire.
"all natural lovings and longings"
- 2 prolonged unfulfilled desire or need wordnet
- 3 The buying of a financial instrument with the expectation that its value will rise.
Verb
- 1 present participle and gerund of long form-of, gerund, participle, present
Example
More examples"The rescued refugees were longing for freedom."
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English longynge, langynge, langand, from Old English langiende, from Proto-Germanic *langōndz, present participle of Proto-Germanic *langōną (“to desire, long for”), equivalent to long + -ing (present participle ending).
Etymology 2
From Middle English longinge, langynge, from Old English longung, langung (“longing, desire”), from Proto-Germanic *langungō, gerund of Proto-Germanic *langōną (“to desire, long for”), equivalent to long + -ing (gerund ending).
Related phrases
More for "longing"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.