How to Use yearn in a Sentence

yearn

verb
  • Who hasn’t yearned for a stranger?
    — Richie Hofmann, New Yorker, 12 Jan. 2026
  • This is what the athletes yearn for.
    — Jacob Whitehead, New York Times, 19 Feb. 2026
  • The people yearn for the phone.
    — Alejandra Gularte, Vulture, 19 Oct. 2025
  • Kerr still yearns for the daily grind.
    — Nick Friedell, New York Times, 14 May 2026
  • To be a child is to yearn for safety and a world that makes sense.
    — John Devore, Rolling Stone, 20 Mar. 2026
  • All of humankind, since the dawn of time, had yearned to reach the moon.
    — Randy Blaser, chicagotribune.com, 19 July 2019
  • In fact, Presley adored the song and yearned to record it.
    — Bob Mehr, Memphis Commercial Appeal, 6 Jan. 2026
  • Even as my head refused, my heart yearned to believe.
    — Literary Hub, 29 Aug. 2025
  • Phoenix residents yearn for a break that doesn't seem to come.
    — Amanda Luberto, The Arizona Republic, 9 Sep. 2024
  • Guys like that don’t publicly yearn for a more glamorous role.
    — Andy Benoit, The MMQB, 10 July 2017
  • Moviegoers yearn for demons to be slayed.
    — Alejandra Gularte, Vulture, 16 Sep. 2025
  • This town has been yearning for a season-long chase for first place.
    — Mark Kiszla, The Denver Post, 15 June 2017
  • And Ohel who yearns to share that new car smell with her dear Aloni.
    — Chris Kenning, USA TODAY, 14 Oct. 2024
  • Who among us hasn’t looked to the stars and yearned to be whisked off to a brighter frontier?
    — A.a. Dowd, Vulture, 20 May 2025
  • Still, many yearned for a unified ecosystem.
    — Julian Lucas, New Yorker, 29 Sep. 2025
  • Is there any part of you that would yearn for that idea of a universal hit.
    — The New Yorker, 29 May 2022
  • The people yearn for a man who dances (or endurance runs) through life.
    — Jason P. Frank, Vulture, 4 Nov. 2025
  • The stay-at-home mom who yearns to go back to work, but can’t afford to pay for child care.
    — Reshma Saujani, Glamour, 18 Feb. 2025
  • Wednesday is the big day, the one fans yearn for as soon as their team's season ends.
    — Jeff Wilson, star-telegram, 11 Feb. 2018
  • But for those who yearn for the old days of the water park, there is a glimmer of hope.
    — Matt Canham, The Salt Lake Tribune, 21 Oct. 2021
  • This has led more employees to yearn for more outside of work.
    — Jasmine Browley, Essence, 19 Apr. 2022
  • The people yearn for the sweet release of screaming to club pop.
    — Alejandra Gularte, Vulture, 7 June 2024
  • And both yearn for the days of more civility and less anger.
    — Ricardo Torres, jsonline.com, 29 Dec. 2025
  • Many of us yearn to be outdoors, to take to the road, to travel, to bask on a beach.
    — Washington Post, 12 June 2021
  • That type of energy is what some people yearn for.
    — Shakeia Taylor, New York Times, 29 May 2026
  • No one wants the huddled masses yearning to breathe free.
    — Sofía Pereda, USA Today, 13 Oct. 2025
  • Still, York and other astronomers yearned for more.
    — Bob Goldsborough, Chicago Tribune, 7 Feb. 2026
  • So the question isn’t just why does nobody yearn anymore?
    — Jenna Ryu, SELF, 14 Jan. 2026
  • Young kids often yearn to give money to good causes, and that’s sweet.
    — Jeff Bogle, Good Housekeeping, 10 Jan. 2019
  • And through his deeply humane yearning the film ascends to greater heights.
    — Conor Friedersdorf, The Atlantic, 17 June 2017

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

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