View synonyms for pining

pining

[ pahy-ning ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

adjective

suffering with or expressing longing or yearning for someone or something:
Exposing her vulnerability and loneliness, the poet addresses her country as would a pining woman in a letter to her beloved in a distant land.
Her pining vocals on these tracks throb with the loneliness and emptiness of fresh separation.
failing gradually in health or vitality, especially from grief, regret, or longing:
The day after the altercation he took sick, and continued in a pining and languishing condition till his death, which soon ensued.

the act or state of yearning or longing, or of gradually failing in health or vitality:
It’s a story of the pining we all feel for the pleasures of our childhood and the relationships that once held us in safety.

Origin of pining¹

First recorded in 1200–50; pin(e) ²( def ) + -ing ²( def ) for the adjective senses; pin(e) ²( def ) + -ing ¹( def ) for the noun sense

“My character was only intended to be in the pilot, and started out very weepy and pining for Archer,” says Greer.

Samwell Tarly starts the episode his same old pining, cowering self.

While on her honeymoon with poet W.B. Yeats, she was devastated to discover he was pining for another woman.

As the idea of commercial drones edges closer, one Colorado man is pining for the right to shoot them down.

If the downfall of Alex Rodriguez leaves you pining for a true sports hero, try skateboarder Danny Renaud.

I can't see father pining and fretting himself to death about his son, without doing something to relieve his mind.

While he was forced to be with us, he was weary of us, pining for his home, counting the hours to the prorogation.

She knew that Dorian Mountcastle was waiting there, heart-sick and restless, and pining for her presence.

General Gage and the troops under his command are penned up, pining in inglorious inactivity.

Yet, somewhere in the city, there must be women pining and longing for that waiting work.

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