Yearningly
adv.hopeful, thoughtfulliterary
What it means
With deep and earnest longing.
Reach for it when showing desire through voice, gaze, or gesture when the feeling is tender rather than demanding
She looked yearningly toward the music school across the square.
Choose between these
6- playful
hungrily
when appetite is used as an intense metaphor
not when Hungrily can feel possessive or sexual and may distort tender longing.
- everyday
when keen anticipation is brighter than longing
not when Eagerness may be cheerful and lacks yearning's ache.
- warm
achingly
when the desire feels emotionally painful
not when Achingly heightens suffering beyond many yearning looks.
- warm
longingly
when sustained desire is the plain emotional fact
not when Longingly is more familiar and carries less literary delicacy.
- literary
plaintively
when the expression sounds sorrowful or pleading
not when Plaintively makes distress more prominent than desire.
- literary
wistfully
when longing is softened by sadness or impossibility
not when Wistfulness can dwell on the past without wanting action now.
Said against
3- indifferently
- contentedly
- reluctantly
It naturally appears in
3- look yearningly
He would look yearningly at the workshop until a place opened.
- speak yearningly
She did not need to speak yearningly for the committee to hear her hope.
- reach yearningly
The child began to reach yearningly toward the familiar violin.
Where this comes from
- Wiktionary, English adverb sense: with yearning or strong desire opens in a new tab · retrieved 2026-07-26
The definition and the example on this page are written here. The dictionaries above ground which meaning is being described, not the wording.