Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To have a strong, often sad longing.
- intransitive verb To feel deep pity, sympathy, or tenderness.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To grieve; mourn; sorrow.
- To grieve; trouble; vex.
- noun A dialectal (Scotch) form of
earn . - Same as
earn . - To long for something; desire eagerly; feel desire or longing.
- To cry out eagerly; give tongue, as a dog.
- Same as
earn .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- intransitive verb To be filled with longing desire; to be harassed or rendered uneasy with longing, or feeling the want of a thing; to strain with emotions of affection or tenderness; to long; to be eager.
- transitive verb obsolete To pain; to grieve; to vex.
- verb Scot. To curdle, as milk.
- intransitive verb obsolete To be pained or distressed; to grieve; to mourn.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb intransitive To long, have a
strong desire (for something). - verb intransitive To long back with
melancholy , nostalgically
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb desire strongly or persistently
- verb have a desire for something or someone who is not present
- verb have affection for; feel tenderness for
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Sure, it's mildly entertaining to read an essay excerpt where a kid uses the word "urine" in place of the word "yearn."
Turnstyle: Talking Sh*t about Sh*t My Students Write Turnstyle 2011
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Sure, it's mildly entertaining to read an essay excerpt where a kid uses the word "urine" in place of the word "yearn."
Turnstyle: Talking Sh*t about Sh*t My Students Write Turnstyle 2011
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Sure, it's mildly entertaining to read an essay excerpt where a kid uses the word "urine" in place of the word "yearn."
The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com Turnstyle 2011
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For some odd reason when people other than whites for lack of a better term yearn to preserve their heritage and culture, it is generally encouraged.
Think Progress » Buchanan Argues For Immigration Moratorium To Preserve White Dominance 2006
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For some odd reason when people other than whites for lack of a better term yearn to preserve their heritage and culture, it is generally encouraged.
Think Progress » Buchanan Argues For Immigration Moratorium To Preserve White Dominance 2006
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My beloved Perishers always travelled by train for their annual parent-free holidays, and I do kind of yearn to have that experience.
Beside the seaside « We Don't Count Your Own Visits To Your Blog 2008
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I kind of yearn for the days where I was completely anonymous and could spew forth brain dumps without repercussion, but recent times have taught me that if I Write It About Them, They Will Find It.
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I kind of yearn for the days where I was completely anonymous and could spew forth brain dumps without repercussion, but recent times have taught me that if I Write It About Them, They Will Find It.
blog: January 2009 2009
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Then it descends into a monster/horror movie which as a 7 year old I loved to pieces but much older and wiser now, having seen so many superior monster films… I kind of yearn for that Close Encounters feeling again during re-runs.
Matt’s Cinema Diary, July 93 – JURASSIC PARK! | Obsessed With Film 2008
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I just heard one say, "Use 'yearn'," and the response: “how do you spell that?”
Alphabet graffiti Jo McLeay 2007
carolinacc commented on the word yearn
yearn (yûrn)
intr.v. yearned, yearn·ing, yearns
1. To have a strong, often melancholy desire.
2. To feel deep pity, sympathy, or tenderness: yearned over the child's fate.
Middle English yernen, from Old English geornan, giernan; see gher-2 in Indo-European roots.
June 3, 2008
bilby commented on the word yearn
From a dictionary that has etymologies in square brackets :-)
June 3, 2008
PossibleUnderscore commented on the word yearn
Now it seems to me, some fine things
Have been laid upon your table
But you only want the ones that you can't get...
-The Eagles, Desperado
July 28, 2009
fbharjo commented on the word yearn
vex, grieve, be eager, earn (all of these and more)
February 8, 2013
yarb commented on the word yearn
"The nature of this message had an instantaneous effect upon the constitution of the pacific Pickle, whose bowels yearned with apprehension..."
— Smollett, Peregrine Pickle
January 29, 2022