wistful

English

Etymology

Presumably from *whistful, from whist (“silent”) + -ful, based on older wistly. It is implausible that it derives from wishful, the required sound change being wishful → *wisful → wistful, which could not occur in Modern English, particularly not with wishful continuing in use. However, the sense of “longing” appears to be influenced by wishful, making wistful an ambiguous poetic word.[1]

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈwɪstfəl/
  • Audio (Southern England):(file)

Adjective

wistful (comparative more wistful, superlative most wistful)

  1. Full of longing or yearning.
    Synonyms: desirous, yearnful
    His eyes grew wistful as he recalled his university days.
    • 1909 September 9, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], “A Court Ball”, in The Squire’s Daughter, London: Methuen & Co. […], →OCLC, page 1:
      Her grey eyes, looking out on the violet of the night sky, the trees, and the crowd of hilarious onlookers who had not been invited to Buckingham Palace, had a patient and wistful expression.
    • 2025 November 26, Tim Dunn, “Lost and found: historical assets”, in RAIL, number 1049, page 55:
      There are few sights that leave a railway lover more wistful than a desolate railway viaduct no longer carrying tracks. As with tunnels, so much effort was made to conquer the landscape, yet so many now stand forlorn.
  2. Sad and thoughtful.
    Synonyms: despondent, unhappy; see also Thesaurus:sad

Derived terms

Translations

References

  1. ^ William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “wistful”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
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