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wistful |
2 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Wistful \Wist"ful\, 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}.] 1. Longing; wishful; desirous. Lifting up one of my sashes, I cast many a wistful, melancholy look towards the sea. --Swift. 2. Full of thought; eagerly attentive; meditative; musing; pensive; contemplative. That he who there at such an hour hath been Will wistful linger on that hallowed spot. --Byron. -- {Wist"ful*ly}, adv -- {Wist"ful*ness}, n. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: wistful adj 1: full of longing or unfulfilled desire; "those wistful little ads that the lovelorn place in the classifieds" [syn: {yearning}] 2: showing pensive sadness; "the sensitive and wistful response of a poet to the gentler phases of beauty" [syn: {pensive}]
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