yearn

Synonym Chooser

How is the word yearn distinct from other similar verbs?

Some common synonyms of yearn are hanker, hunger, long, pine, and thirst. While all these words mean "to have a strong desire for something," yearn suggests an eager, restless, or painful longing.

yearned for a stage career

Where would hanker be a reasonable alternative to yearn?

The synonyms hanker and yearn are sometimes interchangeable, but hanker suggests the uneasy promptings of unsatisfied appetite or desire.

always hankering for money

How are the words hunger and thirst related as synonyms of yearn?

Both hunger and thirst imply an insistent or impatient craving or a compelling need.

hungered for a business of his own
thirsted for power

When could long be used to replace yearn?

Although the words long and yearn have much in common, long implies a wishing with one's whole heart and often a striving to attain.

longed for some rest

When might pine be a better fit than yearn?

The words pine and yearn can be used in similar contexts, but pine implies a languishing or a fruitless longing for what is impossible.

pined for a lost love

Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of yearn Beyond political motives, the group yearn for human warmth and connection. Annika Pham, Variety, 11 Oct. 2025 And as a chocolate lover, my taste buds yearn for an authentic Swiss chocolate tasting at the world-famous Lindt Home of Chocolate in Zurich. Essence, 6 Oct. 2025 Most major celebrities or pop artists will tell you their lives are spent in a glass cage, and yearn for mundanity as much as some pine for fame. Jaeden Pinder, Pitchfork, 3 Oct. 2025 Tom’s doomed desire for Vivien—and for her vanished twenty-first-century world—shows how people in the future may yearn for the past, though the past itself proves neglectful and careless of the future. Katy Waldman, New Yorker, 22 Sep. 2025 See All Example Sentences for yearn
Recent Examples of Synonyms for yearn
Verb
  • Set in the coziest of places — a historic, allegedly haunted New England inn — the film follows a pair of employees/ghost hunters, Claire (Sara Paxton) and Luke (Pat Healy), who long for a real-life supernatural encounter during the hotel's last weekend of operations.
    Randall Colburn, Entertainment Weekly, 18 Oct. 2025
  • Richardson argues that, even as an adult, Matthiessen longed to find some similar paradise.
    Maggie Doherty, New Yorker, 13 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • The 34-mile road winds through several ecosystems from cove hardwood to northern hardwood to pine oak to spruce fir.
    Tara Massouleh McCay, Southern Living, 13 Aug. 2025
  • Parts read like a narrative, other parts sound like a letter to the husband, sometimes explanatory, sometimes apologetic, sometimes pining.
    The Know, Denver Post, 18 May 2025

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Yearn.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/yearn. Accessed 26 Oct. 2025.

More from Merriam-Webster on yearn

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!