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to pine

to pine

41 8.2
To miss someone or something very much because they are not with you
  • verb
  • /paɪn/
: añorar
  • Invariably, I found myself pining for Mona, despising myself for being such a slave to my fetish.
  • pine away

It was just them pining after each other in different situations.

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Examples

  • I think of her; she spent her whole life pining for her first love.

    Fiction book (2000)
  • Eugene's been pining for a game of chess for a long time.

  • Why did I still pine for a woman who no longer loved me?

    Fiction book (2000)
  • Did you ever pine for the good old days when computers had character?

  • You sitting here pining for her.

  • Because his notoriety would follow them wherever they would go, the couple would often pine for a quieter life.

  • But at night, the loneliness crept back, when each lay in bed pining for the same man.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • He's pining for the canyons of Manhattan.

  • Her handmaidens are trying to comfort Dido, who pines for her friend, Aeneas.

    Academic text (2000)
  • She has been pining for her childhood home ever since she moved away.

Synonyms

to yearn
vsto pine
84 4.9

To want something very much when you cannot have it

is deeper and often lingering rather than just being hard to obtain
to ache
vsto pine
33 4.2

To feel a strong longing for someone or something far away

is deeper and often more lingering rather than only intense
to pine for
vsto pine
23 6.7

To feel very sad and want someone or something a lot

is more about lingering longing rather than mainly sadness
to languish
vsto pine
  • Literature
1 7.7

To miss someone or something a lot when they are far away

is a deeper often lingering longing rather than just being a strong desire
to yen
vsto pine
1 8.3

To want someone or something very much

is more about longing for someone or something that is absent or missing

Idioms

2 9.5

Sit on the bench and not play during a sports game

Phrasal Verbs

23 6.7

To feel very sad and want someone or something a lot

5 8.3

Become weak and thin because you miss someone or something

Compounds

31 1.0

A tall evergreen tree with needle leaves and cones

9 2.3

An edible seed from some pine trees used in cooking and baking

5 5.8

A simple coffin made from pine wood

3 6.8

A tall tree from western North America that has long green needles and thick dark bark

lodgepole pine
  • Specialized
2 7.6

A tall thin tree from western North America with two needles on each small branch and rough bark

1 8.6

A small pine tree that grows very slowly and lives for thousands of years

1 6.3

A dark sticky substance from pine wood used to waterproof wood and soothe skin

1 4.3

Pine wood with many knots used for wall panels and furniture to give a rustic look

1 6.0

A small shrubby pine tree with twisted branches and short needles in pairs

1 4.8

A tall pine tree from western North America with blue-green needles and bark in flat grey-brown plates

1 6.7

A medium pine tree with two yellow-green needles on each branch and rough scaly bark

1 3.9

A tall tree with five long needles in each group and smooth light grey bark when young

1 8.2

A small, bushy pine tree with twisted branches and short needles in pairs that grows in the eastern United States

1 6.8

A large tree with long needles and twisted branches from the southeastern United States used for timber

1 8.1

A tall pine tree in the southern United States with long needles in groups of three and reddish-brown bark

1 6.6

A tall pine tree from the southeastern United States with very long needles and rough red-brown bark

1 6.4

A medium to large pine tree with two needles per cluster and reddish brown flaky bark

A name people use for the state of Maine in the United States

1 3.5

A pine tree that has hard yellowish wood people use for building and furniture

1 8.6

A small dark brown animal like a weasel that lives in northern forests

cypress pine
  • Australian
1 7.9

An evergreen tree or shrub from Australia that grows well in dry soil and has hard wood

A Japanese pine with long needles in pairs often grown in gardens and for bonsai that resists salt and pollution

limber pine
  • Specialized
1 8.6

A pine tree with long needles and flexible branches that grows high in western mountains

Torrey's pine
  • Specialized
1 9.2

A medium pine tree from coastal California with long cones and clusters of five needles

1 9.5

A small pine tree with smooth pale bark that grows high in western North American mountains

1 9.1

A small brown striped bird with some yellow on its wings that often lives near pine trees

pitch pine
  • Specialized
1 5.8

A large pine tree from eastern North America that people use for its wood and sticky sap

1 3.9

A tall evergreen tree from northwest North America with short needles and egg-shaped cones

1 8.8

A small bushy pine tree from the eastern United States with twisted branches and short needles in pairs

1 8.2

A medium-sized tree with a flat, wide top and edible seeds like almonds

A large pine tree from the southeastern United States with long needles and rough reddish bark used for timber

1 6.4

A pine tree with reddish-brown flaky bark and pairs of needles that grows in northern Europe and Asia

A large finch with a thick beak that lives in northern pine forests

Jeffrey pine
  • Specialized
1 7.4

A tall pine tree from western North America with long blue-green needles in groups of three and long cones

1 7.9

A hard piece of pine wood from where a branch meets the trunk that burns brightly

1 3.7

Soft pale wood from a tall tree used for building and furniture

short-leaf pine
  • Specialized
1 7.4

A large pine tree with short needles that grows in the southern United States

A tall tree from eastern North America with long needles, soft wood, and brown bark with long cracks

1 5.2

A tall pine tree from California with long needles in groups of three, often grown for wood

1 6.1

A large pine from southeast Europe with dark bark and two needles per cluster

1 9.8

A large beetle whose young bore holes in pine trees

pine-tar rag
  • Jargon
1 8.7

A cloth soaked in pine tar that batters rub on a bat handle to help them hold it better

1 8.8

A small pine tree with twisted branches that lives for thousands of years

1 8.9

A tropical fern with a brown, hairy underground stem that grows in warm forests

Norfolk Island pine
  • Australian
1 7.7

A tall evergreen tree from Norfolk Island often grown as a house plant or decoration

Huon pine
  • Australian
1 9.9

A slow-growing Tasmanian tree with strong wood that resists rot, used for carving and building boats

A tall pine tree from western North America with blue-green needles and grey-brown bark

1 7.9

A small tree with needle leaves that makes edible seeds called pine nuts

1 8.6

A large tree with long needles that grows in wet sandy areas of the southeastern United States

1 4.8

A tall pine tree with long needles in pairs and reddish bark used for timber

1 5.5

A pine tree that makes seeds you can eat

pine family
  • Specialized
1 4.4

A family of trees that make cones, like pines, firs, and spruces

1 7.5

A medium-sized pine tree with a wide top that makes edible pine nuts

1 9.1

A disease caused by a fungus that makes blisters on the bark and weakens white pine trees

white-pine rust
  • Specialized
1 7.8

A disease of pine trees caused by a fungus that makes blisters on the trunk and kills the wood

1 5.7

A tree that grows in wet, marshy ground and often gives wood for building

1 8.1

A large mountain pine with clusters of five needles and small edible seeds

A pine tree from Japan and Korea that has a wide, uneven top and is grown for its looks

1 6.4

A large pine tree from the southern United States with short needles in pairs or threes and reddish brown bark

Australian pine
  • Australian
1 7.6

A tropical tree often planted for shade and wind protection with hard red wood

1 9.8

A small pine tree with two long needles, dark peeling bark, and cones with sharp tips

shore pine
  • Specialized
1 8.4

A small pine tree that grows near the sea with twisted branches and can live in salty air

bishop's pine
  • Specialized
1 9.0

A pine tree that grows on the California coast with two or three needles per bundle

1 8.8

A low plant that lives one year with yellow flowers marked red and a faint pine smell

1 9.9

A small evergreen plant that looks like a tiny pine tree and grows on forest floors

1 9.3

A plant with cup-shaped flowers whose petals curve back, usually yellow to red

1 9.8

A small mouse-like animal that lives underground and eats plant roots in the eastern United States

1 6.3

A large evergreen tree from northwestern North America also called Douglas fir with short needles and egg-shaped cones

1 7.4

A large snake that does not have venom and lives in pine woods in the eastern United States

Wollemi pine
  • Australian
1 9.9

A rare ancient Australian tree discovered in 1994 and once thought extinct

bishop pine
  • Specialized
1 9.2

A pine tree from the northern California coast with two or three needles in each group

Jeffrey's pine
  • Specialized
1 7.7

A tall pine tree from western North America with long blue-green needles in groups of three and large cones

1 8.1

A tall pine tree with dark green needles in groups of two to five and thick dark bark when mature

How Longing

to ache
33 4.2
to yearn
84 4.9
to pine
41 8.2
to long
184 4.5
to miss
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

pine infinitive
pined past
pined past participle
pining present participle
pines third person singular

Etymology

Pine meaning 'to long for' comes from an old word for 'suffer' and is like the common word pain, so to pine is to feel a slow, aching longing for someone or something that is gone.