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yearningly

yearningly

1 6.9
In a way that shows a strong wish for something
  • adverb
  • /ˈjɜrnɪŋli/
translation icon : anhelosamente
  • Simon's father answered yearningly.

Examples

  • As a boy, I stared yearningly at glass-enclosed displays of spurs, knives, guns, and battle flags, as well as the great mural of mounted General Robert E. Lee and his generals, whose names I could recite.

    Fiction book (1993)
  • Jackson gazed yearningly at the smiling elderly physician on the TV and wiped tears from his own eyes.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • He thought yearningly of the federal witness-protection program.

    Fiction book (2001)
  • But I still feel incredibly anxious when I see those young girls and know he is so quietly, innocently, surreptitiously, and yearningly aware of them.

    Fiction book (1995)
  • (yearningly) Oh Gomez, don't torture yourself.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • The lab instructor has hovered over us yearningly, wanting us to get a good view of the amoeba, to really appreciate the spyrogyra.

    Fiction book (2002)
  • Parents stood around laughing, teachers sat cross-legged swatting gnats, and neighbors looked yearningly at the games, wishing they were children again.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • He turned and perceived a vast man who gazed yearningly at Agnes Flack from beneath beetling eyebrows.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • Jackson gazed yearningly at the smiling elderly physician on the TV and wiped tears from his own eyes.

  • Parents stood around laughing, teachers sat cross-legged swatting gnats, and neighbors looked yearningly at the games, wishing they were children again.

Synonyms

desperately
vsyearningly
366 3.6

In a very urgent way because you feel a strong need or fear

is strong longing without the sense of urgent crisis or panic
passionately
vsyearningly
66 2.8

In a way that shows very strong feelings and great excitement

focuses on longing specifically rather than broad intense emotion
wistfully
vsyearningly
10 5.6

In a sad way that shows you wish for something you no longer have

is pure longing without the added tone of regret
longingly
vsyearningly
7 4.5

Showing a strong wish for something you cannot have now

is a general strong longing without implying distance or impossibility
ardently
vsyearningly
7 4.9

In a way that shows strong feeling and great enthusiasm

is desire or longing rather than committed or devoted feeling
achingly
vsyearningly
5 6.6

In a way that shows deep pain or longing

is strong desire without the added sense of pain or ache
wishfully
vsyearningly
1 6.8

In a way that shows hope for something you want but can't have

is desire without suggesting low likelihood or mere hopeful thinking
thirstily
vsyearningly
1 3.8

Showing strong eagerness to learn or get something

is emotional longing rather than a bodily or urgent craving

Antonyms

5 6.7

In a calm, fair way without strong feeling or bias

Showing no interest or care

How Desirous

obsessively
22 6.5
yearningly
1 6.9
longingly
7 4.5
wistfully
10 5.6

Surface Forms

yearningly positive

Morphology

yearningly = yearning (transparent) = yearn + ing + ly

Formed by adding the adverbial suffix '-ly' to the clearly derived adjective 'yearning', yielding the expected meaning 'in a yearning way'.

Etymology

Yearningly comes from the verb yearn, which meant 'to desire' and is like the simple word long, as in 'to long for'. A helpful way to remember it is to imagine wanting something for a long time, almost like for a 'year', so to look or speak yearningly is to show a deep, lasting desire.