How to Use longing in a Sentence

longing

noun
Definition of longingnext
Synonyms for longingnext
  • What makes malls the object of both longing and disdain?
    — Jillian Steinhauer, The New Republic, 22 Aug. 2022
  • Lucky Daye swoops in with smooth vocals that inject an ideal amount of lover boy longing.
    — Melissa Ruggieri, USA TODAY, 12 Aug. 2022
  • This speaks to an ineffable longing written on our hearts.
    — Mike Kerrigan, WSJ, 29 July 2022
  • The recent string of events has contributed to her longing to work in the service of more people who look like her.
    — Jaden Edison, San Antonio Express-News, 16 Aug. 2022
  • If her longing look is not enough to convince fans to run out and get a dog, then her enthusiastic caption might do the trick.
    — People Staff, Peoplemag, 1 Aug. 2022
  • Shot in the desert, the video features a group of dancers performing interpretive choreography to the song’s lyrics about longing.
    — Tomás Mier, Rolling Stone, 16 July 2024
  • And these are not the pointless fireworks of corporate metal but rather express a whole range of feeling: savage and tender, joyful and full of longing.
    — Vulture, 3 Aug. 2022
  • In this context, the longing for something continuous and lasting is very understandable.
    — Laird Borrelli-Persson, Vogue, 21 July 2022
  • The echoing vocals complement the simple beat and guitar strains, placing the focus on the song’s longing lyrics, wishing for a way into someone else’s head.
    — Stephen Daw, Billboard, 5 Aug. 2022
  • Ciment’s mother would sneak into her daughter’s bed at night to unfurl long confessions about her husband’s poor hygiene, her loneliness, her longing for touch.
    — Parul Sehgal, The New Yorker, 1 July 2024
  • The film is in part lugubrious in its longing for obsolescent objects, in its yearning for years before iPhones (with which the crisis of the film would otherwise be more easily solved).
    — Dini Adanurani, Variety, 9 Aug. 2022
  • This sense, which is a purely Canadian stance, of being just at a remove from American madness—and longing for a more stable winter scene—is endemic to her work.
    — Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 29 July 2022
  • But, getting back to the connection between itch and pain, Kim notes there’s another side to this coin: negative reinforcement, the longing not to feel pleasure but to be rid of discomfort.
    — Cody Cottier, Discover Magazine, 19 July 2024
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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

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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