Meanings
comparative more wistful · superlative most wistful
- Full of longing or yearning.
His eyes grew wistful as he recalled his university days.
2 more examples
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.
1909 September 9, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], “A Court Ball”, in The Squire’s Daughter, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, published 1919, →OCLC, page 1There 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.
2025 November 26, Tim Dunn, “Lost and found: historical assets”, in RAIL, number 1049, page 55 - Sad and thoughtful.
Synonyms: despondent, unhappy, atrabiliary, atrabilious, blitheless, dispirited, blue, bummed out
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveSad and thoughtful.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
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.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian копнеещ, тъжен
- копнеещ (kopneešt)full of longing
- тъжен (tăžen)sad and thoughtful
- меланхоличен (melanholičen)sad and thoughtful
Danish længselsfuld, vemodig
- længselsfuldfull of longing
- vemodigfull of longing
Dutch droefgeestig, weemoedig
- droefgeestigfull of longing
- weemoedigfull of longing
- melancholischfull of longing
Finnish kaihoisa, haikea
- kaihoisafull of longing
- haikeafull of longing
- haikeasad and thoughtful
- mietteliässad and thoughtful
French mélancolique, nostalgique
- mélancoliquefull of longing
- nostalgiquefull of longing
German wehmütig, sehnsuchtsvoll
- wehmütigfull of longing
- sehnsuchtsvollfull of longing
- nostalgischfull of longing
- schwermütigsad and thoughtful
- melancholischsad and thoughtful
Hebrew כמה, עגום
- כמה (kaméha)full of longing
- עגום (agúm)sad and thoughtful
- מלנכולי (melankóli)sad and thoughtful
Icelandic angurvær, löngunarfullur
- angurværfull of longing
- löngunarfullurfull of longing
- angurværsad and thoughtful
- löngunarfullursad and thoughtful
Italian malinconico, nostalgico
- malinconicofull of longing
- nostalgicofull of longing
Korean 애석(哀惜)해하는
- 애석(哀惜)해하는 (aeseokhaehaneun)full of longing
Māori whēnako, whēnakonako
- whēnakofull of longing
- whēnakonakofull of longing
- kōhaufull of longing
Norwegian lengselsfull, vemodig
- lengselsfullfull of longing
- vemodigfull of longing
Norwegian Bokmål vemodig
- vemodigsad and thoughtful
Persian حسرتمند
- حسرتمند (hasratmand)full of longing
Polish tęskny, smutny
- tęsknyfull of longing
- smutnysad and thoughtful
- pełen zadumysad and thoughtful
Portuguese saudoso, nostálgico
- saudosofull of longing
- nostálgicofull of longing
- melancólicofull of longing
Russian тоску́ющий, томя́щийся
- тоску́ющий (toskújuščij)full of longing
- томя́щийся (tomjáščijsja)full of longing
- тоскли́вый (tosklívyj)full of longing
- заду́мчивый (zadúmčivyj)sad and thoughtful
- гру́стный (grústnyj)sad and thoughtful
- печа́льный (pečálʹnyj)sad and thoughtful
Spanish nostálgico, melancólico
- nostálgicofull of longing
- melancólicosad and thoughtful
Swedish längtansfull, vemodig
- längtansfullfull of longing
- vemodigfull of longing
- vemodigsad and thoughtful
- melankolisksad and thoughtful
Ukrainian тужливий, ностальгійний
- тужливий (tužlyvyj)full of longing
- ностальгійний (nostalʹhijnyj)full of longing
- задумливий (zadumlyvyj)sad and thoughtful
- сумний (sumnyj)sad and thoughtful
- меланхолійний (melanxolijnyj)sad and thoughtful
Cite this entry
wistful. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wistful
“wistful.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wistful. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “wistful,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wistful.
Source: wistful on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.