How to Use wistful in a Sentence

wistful

adjective

• He had a wistful look on his face.
• She was wistful for a moment, then asked, “Do you remember the old playground?”.
• My mom fobbed me off with wistful trips around the city.
  — Eren Orbey, The New Yorker, 20 Nov. 2023
• There is a lot to be wistful about as summer draws to a close.
  — Washington Post, 23 Apr. 2021
• The time has come to quit your wistful longing for the good old days of selling.
  — Henry Devries, Forbes, 29 June 2021
• One is touched and a bit amused by it all, while the other feels wistful about it.
  — Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 1 Aug. 2023
• This is a sober remark, not just a wistful or passing one.
  — Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 1 Aug. 2022
• Fury, though, also has been more wistful in the leadup to this fight.
  — Josh Katzowitz, Forbes, 22 Apr. 2022
• As the sun sank, some guests seemed a little wistful for the glamorous bashes of years past.
  — Sheila Marikar, The New Yorker, 13 Mar. 2017
• The Shirkers that Tan has made is a wry and wistful portrait of the artist as a young punk.
  — Sheri Linden, The Hollywood Reporter, 23 Jan. 2018
• Melvin, for one, sounded a bit wistful for the longer locks on the tall left-hander.
  — Matt Kawahara, SFChronicle.com, 11 July 2020
• Elling paused, then picked up the chorus one more time, a wistful coda.
  — Hannah Edgar, Chicago Tribune, 20 Aug. 2022
• His tone was wistful, with a hint that the fate of legacy would soon be in someone else’s hands.
  — Washington Post, 24 Nov. 2020
• Her style, precise and wistful, let in breezes from a mature world.
  — Nathan Heller, The New Yorker, 26 Dec. 2022
• The artist has been one of my mainstays this year, as has this song that's equal parts lovely and wistful.
  — Christopher Rosa, Glamour, 24 Dec. 2021
• In some cases, the end of a show marks the end of an era in our own lives, and that can usher in a wistful feeling.
  — Matthew Gilbert, BostonGlobe.com, 18 Aug. 2022
• At the wistful center of things usually stands a young woman.
  — Katy Waldman, The New Yorker, 20 Sep. 2021
• Though the show stands alone as a teen comedy, there are callbacks to the original for the wistful fans.
  — Editors, USA TODAY, 25 Nov. 2020
• With the news of some closures comes a collective sigh, wistful for a piece of greatness lost.
  — Tirion Morris, The Arizona Republic, 7 May 2021
• There is something wistful about these bursts of self-awareness.
  — Vulture, 25 Jan. 2023
• Hope calls his late wife, breaking into a wistful smile.
  — Paul Newberry, The Denver Post, 24 Aug. 2019
• The first team-up between both acts, the track is both melancholic and wistful melodies that thrive on a slow tempo.
  — Billboard Staff, Billboard, 16 Sep. 2022
• There’s a certain wistful loveliness in all of that, the mind drifting to what could have been.
  — Michael Bamberger, New York Times, 18 Aug. 2023
• Many leave with the store’s signature brown-and-white striped bags, and wistful sighs about the end of an era.
  — Leslie Brody, WSJ, 19 Sep. 2018
• The mid-tempo, wistful track is sure to get the cell phone flashlights waving in concert.
  — Melinda Newman, Billboard, 9 Apr. 2021
• With a wise and wistful look in her eyes, Flora tells her everyone and no one.
  — David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 26 May 2023
• His is no wistful ode to an era that never was, but a clear-eyed look at what’s going on.
  — Kathryn Jean Lopez, National Review, 2 Oct. 2017
• While very much a feel-good movie, there’s a wistful melancholy that ebbs and flows throughout as well.
  — Christopher Arnott, courant.com, 10 Nov. 2021
• Few people in Syria have any patience for this kind of wistful talk.
  — Robert F. Worth, New York Times, 24 May 2017
• Watch her return to her small-town Rust Belt home and languish in the big vibes and wistful mood.
  — Julie Muncy, Wired, 25 Nov. 2020

Last Updated: 27 Mar 2024