pine after

phrasal verb

pined after; pining after; pines after
US
: to want or desire (someone or something) very much
teenage girls pining after rock stars

Examples of pine after in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
The whole movie is just about her pining after this man. Joan MacDonald, Forbes.com, 14 Aug. 2025 Meyers' The Holiday starred Cameron Diaz as a workaholic movie trailer editor in Los Angeles and Kate Winslet as a London journalist pining after her ex-slash-coworker. Wesley Stenzel, EW.com, 1 Aug. 2025 The love triangle is already complicated by the intrusive memories of Mark’s outie, who is pining after the specter of his dead wife, Gemma (Dichen Lachman), but the situation reaches unprecedented messiness after Helena Eagan tracks down Mark’s outie in a restaurant and flirts with him. Dani Di Placido, Forbes, 25 Feb. 2025 In this essay for The Paris Review, Simon Wu recounts his experiences pining after, and eventually buying, six designer handbags: some real, some real but used, and one fake. Cheri Lucas Rowlands, Longreads, 17 Dec. 2024

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Pine after.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pine%20after. Accessed 5 Sep. 2025.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!