Wistfulness

noun

noun ·3 syllables ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The state or characteristic of being wistful. uncountable, usually

    "She was no longer the alert, vivacious American beauty who had charmed and delighted all who came in contact with her. Instead she was a very quiet and sad little girl—with an expression of hopeless wistfulness that none but Hazel Strong could interpret."

  2. 2
    a sadly pensive longing wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
absorptionabstractionapologyattritionbitternessbrown study

Example

More examples

"We look back on days gone by, if not always with affections, at any rate with a kind of wistfulness."

Etymology

From wistful + -ness.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.