wistful

adjective wist·ful \ ˈwist-fəl \

Updated on: 16 Apr 2018

Definition of wistful

1 : full of yearning or desire tinged with melancholy; also : inspiring such yearning

a wistful memoir

2 : musingly sad : pensive

a wistful glance

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wistfully

play \ˈwist-fə-lē\ adverb

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wistfulness

noun

See wistful defined for English-language learners

See wistful defined for kids

wistful was our Word of the Day on 11/26/2016. Hear the podcast!

Examples of wistful in a Sentence

She was wistful for a moment, then asked, “Do you remember the old playground?”.
He had a wistful look on his face.

Recent Examples of wistful from the Web

In wistful tribute to a cultural relic that fell victim to violence and war, Maev Kennedy reports for the Guardian that a copy of the Lamassu monument has been erected in London’s Trafalgar Square.

— brigit katz, Smithsonian, "Ancient Statue Destroyed by ISIS Resurrected in London—With a Twist," 6 Apr. 2018
Silvestri wrote a nostalgic, wistful theme for both eccentric creator Halliday (Mark Rylance) and the film's young protagonist, Wade (Tye Sheridan), who share a pure-hearted love of virtual reality wonderland OASIS.

— tim greiving, latimes.com, "How 'Ready Player One' became the rare Steven Spielberg movie not scored by John Williams," 30 Mar. 2018
With a wistful sense, German has been watching the NCAA tournament.

— michael osipoff, Post-Tribune, "Eugene German wants to take next step after breakout sophomore season at Northern Illinois," 26 Mar. 2018
An old clip in the archives of the Oasis finds Halliday in a wistful mood.

— rachel aviv, The New Yorker, "“Ready Player One” and “Lean on Pete”," 24 Mar. 2018
Director Anand Tucker had fared much better a few years prior with Shopgirl, a movie as wise and wistful as this one is grating.

— joanna robinson, HWD, "What’s New on Netflix in April," 21 Mar. 2018
Even years later, driving by the Paramus, N.J. store near my home brought back wistful memories, making this week's news of its impending liquidation feel like a particularly strong blow to the remnants of a pre-internet, pre-Amazon world.

— eli blumenthal, USA TODAY, "Farewell, Toys R Us and thanks for the memories," 16 Mar. 2018
One person who speaks to Trump regularly said the president has become increasingly wistful about the camaraderie of that campaign.

— Washington Post, "Turnover, investigations have Trump administration adrift," 6 Mar. 2018
Smart, wistful, poignant, painful, funny, deep, captivating.

— chuck yarborough, cleveland.com, "Montgomery Gentry, Shawn Colvin & Lyle Lovett take over Also Playing," 13 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'wistful.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

wistful Has a Wishful History

Are you yearning to know the history of wistful? If so, we can ease your melancholy a little by telling you that wistful comes from a combination of wishful and wistly, a now obsolete word meaning "intently." We can't say with certainty where wistly came from, but it may have sprung from whistly, an old term meaning "silently" or "quietly." How did the supposed transition from a word meaning "quietly" to one meaning "intently" come about? That's something to muse about, but the answer isn't known.

Origin and Etymology of wistful

blend of wishful and obsolete English wistly intently

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First Known Use: 1714

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WISTFUL Defined for English Language Learners

wistful

adjective

Definition of wistful for English Language Learners

: having or showing sad thoughts and feelings about something that you want to have or do and especially about something that made you happy in the past