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wistfulness

nounC2Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #15,253 of 15,258Too rare in one of the two pools to compare — fewer than 20 uses in speech or in writing

Wistfulness is a gentle sadness for something longed for. A note of wistfulness.

It is quieter than grief and warmer than regret, which is exactly its territory. Wistfulness is usually about a thing that was never quite lost because it never quite happened.

Unknown · CC BY 4.0

Definitions of wistfulness

  1. 1nounwistfulnessA gentle sadness for something longed for.C2

    “There was a wistfulness in the whole last chapter.”

wistfulness is a feeling.

Where it comes from

From wistful, probably from the older wistly, meaning intently, crossed with wishful.

From wistful + ness.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

wistfulness in the wild

  • Allmusic writer John Schacht gave it a four-star reviewing, calling it "an exquisite foray into wistfulness so sublime you can't help but feel elation mingled with the sadness".

    The Carlton Chronicles: Not Until the Operation's Through

  • All four narrators feel bound to write down these stories, conveying a tone not only of wistfulness and reflection, but irony and gentle humor.

    Piotr Paziński (writer)

  • XV:24), the finale is in the style of a minuet, but tempered with melancholy and wistfulness.

    Piano Trio No. 40 (Haydn)

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

  • wistful