ENGLISH
REFERENCE

longed

v.
B2 Upper Intermediate US //ˈɫɔŋd// UK //lˈɒŋd// longed

v. wanted something very much, especially when it was hard to get or far away. You use this when you feel a strong, sad desire for something.

v. past tense of 'long'; felt a strong, persistent, and often wistful desire for something or someone. Typically describes an emotional state rather than a physical need.


SIMPLE

She longed for a quiet day at the beach.

CONTEXTUAL

After years of living in the crowded city, he longed for the silence of the countryside.

COMPLEX

The exiled poet longed for his homeland, often writing verses that captured the specific scents and sounds of the streets he could no longer walk.

Synonyms
Usage

Intransitive; almost always followed by the preposition 'for' or a 'to-infinitive'.

Pitfall

She longed the summer holidays.She longed for the summer holidays.The verb is intransitive and requires the preposition 'for' before a noun phrase.

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