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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
Jake Henry Smith, Glamour, 15 July 2025
Raised in Tanworth-in-Arden, Warwickshire, Drake was surrounded by music; his mother, Molly, wrote wistful songs in the English parlor tradition, her delicate phrasing later echoed in Nick’s own recordings.
—arkansasonline.com, 5 July 2025
Printed in a wistful italic font and decorated haphazardly with doves, shooting stars, butterflies and the Rialto Bridge, the invitation appears homemade, but not in an artisanal sense.
—Leah Dolan, CNN Money, 25 June 2025
As for his singing, Simon still delivered in his distinct wistful voice that now sounded a bit more softer, which suited to the intimate presentation of the material.
—David Chiu, Forbes.com, 25 June 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 18 Jul. 2025.
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