wistful
adjective
Simple meaning
Quietly sad while longing for something.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
wistfuhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈwɪstfəl
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Full of longing or yearning.
Sad and thoughtful.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Full of longing or yearning.
Used this way, wistful is a reasonably familiar word that can pull warm or cold depending on the sentence. It suits reflective writing more than quick conversation.
- Emotional tone
- Mixed
- Formality
- Slightly formal
- Intensity
- Gentle
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Sentimental and reflective
- Usage feel
- Reflective and slightly elevated
Usage note
The same wording can read approvingly or critically, so the surrounding sentence has to make the intent clear.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use wistful
- “His eyes grew wistful as he recalled his university days.”adjective
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What Does It Mean Here?
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Vocabulary
Building a Richer Emotional Vocabulary
Move beyond “happy,” “sad,” and “angry” with a grouped set of precise emotional vocabulary and usage notes.
Vocabulary
Words for Mixed and Difficult Emotions
Precise vocabulary for complicated feelings that mix two emotions at once, such as bittersweet nostalgia, guilty relief, and wistful longing.
Vocabulary
Words for Missing Someone
Longing, yearning, nostalgia, homesickness, words for missing someone or something, grouped by kind and intensity, with meaning and example for each.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.