Longing

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈlɒŋɪŋ/

Definitions

1. An intense and often melancholic desire for something that may be out of reach creates a profound emotional state of yearning and unfulfilled aspirations
2. A deep emotional craving for something that is not present or attainable
3. An intense feeling of wanting or wishing for something distant or lost

Etymology: The noun "longing" is older than its own verb-like shape suggests. It descends from Old English "langung" and "langiende," both built on the verb "langian," meaning "to desire" or "to long for." That verb grows from the same Proto-Germanic root as the adjective "long," so the sense of "long" as stretched-out distance and the sense of an ache that stretches toward something absent are closely linked. A person who longs is, in a sense, reaching across a gap. The ending does most of the grammatical work. "-ing" was a suffix that turned verbs into nouns denoting the action or state itself, so "longing" names the state of longing rather than a thing. Medieval English used several spellings, including "langynge" and "longinge," before the modern form settled, and the word kept its core meaning of intense, persistent wanting throughout that span.

Synonyms: yearning, desire, craving, pining, wistfulness

Antonyms: indifference, apathy, disinterest, detachment, contentment