longing
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
a strong, often sad feeling of wanting something or someone you cannot have right now.
an intense, persistent, and often melancholic desire for something or someone, typically characterized by a sense of absence or distance.
Simple“After living in the city for years, he felt a deep longing for the quiet countryside.”
In context“Her poetry often explores the bittersweet longing for a childhood home that no longer exists in the physical world.”
UsageCommonly follows the pattern 'longing for [something]' or 'longing to [do something].'
PitfallShe had a longing of her old home. She had a longing for her old home.The noun 'longing' is almost always followed by the preposition 'for'.
Antonyms - 02 C2 Proficiency
buying an investment because you expect its price to go up.
the act of purchasing a financial instrument with the expectation that its market value will appreciate. Usually functions as a gerund or part of a compound.
Simple“The trader's longing of the tech stock proved profitable when the prices rose.”
In context“The fund's strategy involved the aggressive longing of emerging market currencies in anticipation of a regional economic recovery.”
UsageIn modern finance, 'going long' is more common as a verbal phrase, but 'longing' appears in technical trading contexts.
SynonymsAntonymsshorting
“It was still not easy for Gonzalez to leave Manchester City , where he felt settled, but Newcastle will give him the platform he has been longing for as a key player.”
“I have an armchair theory about all this counterfactual longing: the lure of the do-over.”
From Middle English longynge, langynge, langand, from Old English langiende, from Proto-Germanic langōndz, present participle of Proto-Germanic langōną (“to desire, long for”), equivalent to long + -ing (present participle ending).
From Middle English longinge, langynge, from Old English longung, langung (“longing, desire”), from Proto-Germanic langungō, gerund of Proto-Germanic langōną (“to desire, long for”), equivalent to long + -ing (gerund ending).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.