Wistful

• POS: Adjective
• HYPHEN: wist=ful

CIDE DICTIONARY

Wistful, a. [For wishful; perhaps influenced by wistly, which is probably corrupted from OE. wisly certainly (from Icel. viss certain, akin to E. wit). See Wish.].

•  Longing; wishful; desirous.  [1913 Webster]

  "Lifting up one of my sashes, I cast many a wistful, melancholy look towards the sea."  [1913 Webster]
•  Full of thought; eagerly attentive; meditative; musing; pensive; contemplative.  [1913 Webster]

  "That he who there at such an hour hath been,
  Will wistful linger on that hallowed spot."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Wistful, adj. (of a person, looks, etc.) yearningly or mournfully expectant or wishful.

Derivative

wistfully adv. wistfulness n.

Etymology

app. assim. of obs. wistly (adv.) intently (cf. WHISHT) to wishful, with corresp. change of sense

THESAURUS

Wistful

ashamed, atrabiliar, atrabilious, blue, cogitative, cognitive, concentrating, concentrative, conceptive, conceptual, conceptualized, conscience-smitten, conscience-stricken, contemplating, contemplative, deliberating, deliberative, excogitating, full of remorse, funky, hankering, homesick, honing, ideative, introspective, languishing, longing, meditating, meditative, melancholic, melancholy, mental, museful, musing, noetic, nostalgic, pensive, pining, pondering, prehensive, reflecting, reflective, regretful, remorseful, repining, rueful, ruminant, ruminating, ruminative, self-accusing, self-condemning, self-convicting, self-debasing, self-flagellating, self-humiliating, self-punishing, self-reproaching, serious, shamefaced, shamefast, shameful, sober, sorry, speculative, thinking, thought, thoughtful, tristful, unhappy about, wishful, yearnful, yearning

ROGET THESAURUS

Wistful

Feeling

N feeling, suffering, endurance, tolerance, sufferance, supportance, experience, response, sympathy, impression, inspiration, affection, sensation, emotion, pathos, deep sense, warmth, glow, unction, gusto, vehemence, fervor, fervency, heartiness, cordiality, earnestness, eagerness, empressement, gush, ardor, zeal, passion, enthusiasm, verve, furore, fanaticism, excitation of feeling, fullness of the heart, passion, ecstasy, blush, suffusion, flush, hectic, tingling, thrill, turn, shock, agitation, quiver, heaving, flutter, flurry, fluster, twitter, tremor, throb, throbbing, pulsation, palpitation, panting, trepidation, perturbation, ruffle, hurry of spirits, pother, stew, ferment, state of excitement, feeling, sentient, sensuous, sensorial, sensory, emotive, emotional, of feeling, with feeling, warm, quick, lively, smart, strong, sharp, acute, cutting, piercing, incisive, keen, keen as a razor, trenchant, pungent, racy, piquant, poignant, caustic, impressive, deep, profound, indelible, deep felt, home felt, heartfelt, swelling, soul-stirring, deep-mouthed, heart-expanding, electric, thrilling, rapturous, ecstatic, earnest, wistful, eager, breathless, fervent, fervid, gushing, passionate, warm-hearted, hearty, cordial, sincere, zealous, enthusiastic, glowing, ardent, burning, red-hot, fiery, flaming, boiling over, pervading, penetrating, absorbing, rabid, raving, feverish, fanatical, hysterical, impetuous, impressed with, moved with, touched with, affected with, penetrated with, seized with, imbued with, devoured by, wrought up, struck all of a heap, rapt, in a quiver, enraptured, heart and soul, from the bottom of one's heart, ab imo pectore, at heart, con amore, heartily, devoutly, over head and ears, head over heels, the heart big, the heart full, the heart swelling, the heart beating, the heart pulsating, the heart throbbing, the heart thumping, the heart beating high, the heart melting, the heart overflowing, the heart bursting, the heart breaking, the heart goes out, a heart as big as all outdoors (sympathy).

Desire

N desire, wish, fancy, fantasy, want, need, exigency, mind, inclination, leaning, bent, animus, partiality, penchant, predilection, propensity, willingness, liking, love, fondness, relish, longing, hankering, inkling, solicitude, anxiety, yearning, coveting, aspiration, ambition, vaulting ambition, eagerness, zeal, ardor, empressement, breathless impatience, overanxiety, impetuosity, appetite, appetition, appetence, appetency, sharp appetite, keenness, hunger, stomach, twist, thirst, thirstiness, drouth, mouthwatering, itch, itching, prurience, cacoethes, cupidity, lust, concupiscence, edge of appetite, edge of hunger, torment of Tantalus, sweet tooth, lickerish tooth, itching palm, longing eye, wistful eye, sheep's eye, greed, voracity, passion, rage, furore, mania, manie, inextinguishable desire, dipsomania, kleptomania, lover, amateur, votary, devotee, aspirant, solicitant, candidate, applicant, supplicant, cormorant, desideratum, want, a consummation devoutly to be wished, attraction, magnet, allurement, fancy, temptation, seduction, fascination, prestige, height of one's ambition, idol, whim, whimsy, whimsey, maggot, hobby, hobby-horse, Fortunatus's cap, wishing cap, wishing stone, wishing well, desirous, desiring, inclined, partial to, fain, wishful, optative, anxious, wistful, curious, at a loss for, sedulous, solicitous, craving, hungry, sharp-set, peckish, ravening, with an empty stomach, esurient, lickerish, thirsty, athirst, parched with thirst, pinched with hunger, famished, dry, drouthy, hungry as a hunter, hungry as a hawk, hungry as a horse, hungry as a church mouse, hungry as a bear, greedy, unsatisfied, unsated, unslaked, unsaturated, eager, avid, keen, burning, fervent, ardent, agog, all agog, breathless, impatient, bent on, intent on, set on, bent upon, intent upon, set upon, mad after, enrage, rabid, dying for, devoured by desire, aspiring, ambitious, vaulting, skyaspiring, high-reaching, desirable, desired, in demand, pleasing, appetizing, appetible, tantalizing, wistfully, fain, Int, would that, would that it were!, O for!, esto perpetual, the wish being father to the thought, sua cuique voluptas, hoc erat in votis, the mouth watering, the fingers itching, aut Caesar aut nullus, Cassius has a lean and hungry look, hungry as the grave, I was born to other things, not what we wish but what we want, such joy ambition finds, the sea hath bounds but deep desire hath none, ubi mel ibi apes.

Thought

N thought, exercitation of the intellect, exercise of the intellect, intellection, reflection, cogitation, consideration, meditation, study, lucubration, speculation, deliberation, pondering, head work, brain work, cerebration, deep reflection, close study, application, abstract thought, abstraction contemplation, musing, brown study, reverie, Platonism, depth of thought, workings of the mind, thoughts, inmost thoughts, self-counsel self-communing, self- consultation, philosophy of the Absolute, philosophy of the Academy, philosophy of the Garden, philosophy of the lyceum, philosophy of the Porch, association of thought, succession of thought, flow of thought, train of thought, current of thought, association of ideas, succession of ideas, flow of ideas, train of ideas, current of ideas, after thought, mature thought, reconsideration, second thoughts, retrospection, excogitation, examination, invention, thoughtfulness, thinking, thoughtful, pensive, meditative, reflective, museful, wistful, contemplative, speculative, deliberative, studious, sedate, introspective, Platonic, philosophical, lost in thought, deep musing, in the mind, under consideration, all things considered, the mind being on the stretch, the mind turning upon, the head turning upon, the mind running upon, divinely, bent to meditation, en toute chose il faut considerer la fin, fresh- pluckt from bowers of never-failing thought, go speed the stars of Thought, in maiden meditation fancy-free, so sweet is zealous contemplation, the power of thought is the magic of the Mind, those that think must govern those that toil, thought is parent of the deed, thoughts in attitudes imperious, thoughts that breathe and words that burn, vivere est cogitare, Volk der Dichter und Denker.

Care

N care, solicitude, heed, heedfulness, scruple, watchfulness, vigilance, surveillance, eyes of Argus, watch, vigil, look out, watch and ward, loeil du maitre, alertness, attention, prudence &c, circumspection, anxiety, forethought, precaution, tidiness accuracy, minuteness, attention to detail, careful regardful, heedful, taking care, particular, prudent, considerate, thoughtful, provident, alert, sure-footed, guarded, on one's guard, on the qui vivre, on the alert, on watch, on the lookout, awake, broad awake, vigilant, watchful, wakeful, wistful, Argus-eyed, wide awake, on the watch for (expectant), tidy accurate, scrupulous, cavendo tutus, carefully, with care, gingerly, quis custodiet istos custodes?, who will watch the watchers?, care will kill a cat, ni bebas agua que no veas, O polished perturbation! Golden care!, the incessant care and labor of his mind.