Did you know?
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
Adelle Platon, VIBE.com, 2 Apr. 2026
The hazy work melds notes in its wistful beginning before growing in strength and power, then gently releasing at the end.
—Sheila Regan, Twin Cities, 28 Mar. 2026
Fueled by that wistful mission, Magnifica plans to be wheels up in September 2027.
—Michael Verdon, Robb Report, 28 Mar. 2026
Musgraves and Hannah Lux Davis co-directed the song’s cheeky video, which is set in a grocery store and is ripe with fruit-touching and wistful stares.
—Travis Pinson, Dallas Morning News, 11 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for wistful
Cite this Entry
“Wistful.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wistful. Accessed 4 Apr. 2026.
Copy Citation
