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Wistful Has a Wishful History
We see you there, dear reader, gazing silently up at the moon, heart aching to know the history of wistful, as if it could be divined on the lunar surface. And we’d like to ease your melancholy by telling you that the knowledge you seek—nay, pine for—is closer at hand. But the etymology of wistful, while intriguing, is not entirely clear. It’s thought that the word is a combination of wistly, a now-obsolete word meaning “intently” and, perhaps, the similar-sounding wishful. Wistly, in turn, may have come from whistly, an old term meaning “silently” or “quietly.” What’s more certain is that our modern wistful is a great word to describe someone full of pensive yearning, or something inspiring such yearning.
Examples of wistful in a Sentence
Brian McCollum, Freep.com, 2 Aug. 2025
Because no perfect date is complete without a sweet finish, just a short, wistful drive away lies an Austin institution: Sandy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers.
—Ana Gutierrez, Austin American Statesman, 1 Aug. 2025
But the last thing Alexakis wanted was some wistful trip down memory lane.
—jsonline.com, 4 July 2025
Fashion trends are in a wistful mood right now, from capri leggings to polka dots—but the see-through shoes might just be the most popular (and fun-loving) revival of the summer.
—Jake Henry Smith, Glamour, 15 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for wistful
Cite this Entry
“Wistful.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wistful. Accessed 21 Aug. 2025.
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