How to Use longing in a Sentence

longing

noun
  • She cast a look of longing at the shop window.
  • They looked with longing toward freedom.
  • She never told anyone about her secret longings.
  • There was all this stored up longing, right?
    — Literary Hub, 24 Apr. 2026
  • But don’t be afraid to feel the edges of your longing, too.
    — Dossé-Via Trenou, Refinery29, 19 Oct. 2025
  • The key shift here is to a tone laden with longing, even regret.
    — David L. Ulin, Los Angeles Times, 2 Dec. 2022
  • What comes through most in his words is a tremendous sense of longing.
    — Michael Cavna, Washington Post, 5 Nov. 2019
  • There’s a lot of longing, there’s a lot of sorrow in the book.
    — James Factora, Them, 1 Nov. 2024
  • Eid now is no longer a day of laughter, but a day of tears and longing.
    — Simone McCarthy, CNN, 14 Feb. 2023
  • Kelce’s broad smile and longing looks at his girlfriend of two years said it all.
    — Gil Kaufman, Billboard, 25 Aug. 2025
  • In this song about longing and love, the neo soul singer sounds like a warm hug on a rainy evening.
    — Christopher Rosa, Glamour, 26 Dec. 2020
  • For as long as mankind has walked the earth, there’s been a longing for eternal youth.
    — Katie Jackson, USA TODAY, 23 Dec. 2019
  • This whole year has been quite the exercise in longing for one.
    — Kathryn Jean Lopez, National Review, 14 Dec. 2020
  • Slowly, her longing to be part of his future took over the cake.
    — New York Times, 10 Feb. 2026
  • At times the longing feels sweet and the search like a little sorrow.
    — Literary Hub, 19 June 2026
  • Tell me more about cinema as a place of longing.
    — Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 16 May 2026
  • This glimpse leaves me longing for a trailer—or even a mere teaser.
    — Michelle Ruiz, Vogue, 9 June 2022
  • Try to look beyond her anger (for now) and key into her longing.
    — Washington Post, 21 Jan. 2021
  • From a young age, Spears felt dual longings to both hide and be seen.
    — Stephanie McNeal, Glamour, 24 Oct. 2023
  • Who is to say that the longing wasn’t the most purposeful agent of that change?
    — Rachel Kushner, New Yorker, 14 Sep. 2025
  • So’s work defines a life of longing — and will leave you longing for more.
    — Bethanne Patrick, Los Angeles Times, 29 Nov. 2023
  • Shane writes and deletes one longing text message about kissing.
    — Kathryn Vanarendonk, Vulture, 5 Dec. 2025
  • Lewis tells stories through metaphor and the language of longing.
    — Hilton Als, The New Yorker, 19 Dec. 2022
  • Most of the tunes explored loss, longing and what can happen when the heart goes astray.
    — Bob Gendron, Chicago Tribune, 8 June 2022
  • Or, maybe there’s just a longing for more love in the world of 2019.
    — cleveland.com, 26 July 2019
  • Death, the past, art, longing, all of it sent whirling and made current by the two paintings.
    — Karl Ove Knausgaard, The New Yorker, 27 Jan. 2025
  • Watching the montage also stirred a mix of pride and longing for the mom.
    — Daniella Gray, MSNBC Newsweek, 3 Aug. 2025
  • But looking back, many feel a longing for the God of War of old.
    — Diego Argüello, Rolling Stone, 22 Mar. 2025
  • The sun shines a light on your personal desires and longings.
    — Lisa Stardust, Vogue, 18 June 2026
  • The greater the truth, the greater the longing to know it, and the greatest truth of all is God.
    — Mike Kerrigan, WSJ, 21 Jan. 2022

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'longing.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: