It’s never easy to reflect on the past and yearn for something or someone who is now absent in your life. But, alas, it is a sensation we must all encounter at some point.
Therefore, if you’re looking for examples of how to describe missing someone in writing, the list of words below is sure to help!
Words for Missing Someone
- Wistfulness
- Nostalgic
- Saudade
- Pining
- Yearning
- Longing
- Haunted
- Remembrance
- Emptiness
- Loss
- Regret
- Melancholy
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- “Wistfulness” describes a feeling of yearning for another person or something from the past.
- When you remember something from the past and feel a bitter-sweet feeling of both fondness and loss, you are “nostalgic.”
- “Saudade” is a beautiful Portuguese word that describes a strong sense of longing.
Keep reading! In the next section, we’ll discuss our three favorite words that describe the sensation of missing someone or something.
After that, we’ll show you some great example sentences using each of our chosen words.
Wistfulness
“Wistfulness” is a great word for the feeling of missing someone.
Merriam-Webster defines “wistful” as “full of yearning or desire tinged with melancholy.” Therefore, “wistfulness” can be quite a sad feeling.
You may feel wistful if someone you love is absent temporarily or permanently, and you long for their return. Perhaps they have taken a long trip, or perhaps you live in different states.
You can also feel “wistful” when you are remembering things from your past or your childhood that you will never experience again.
Fascinatingly, “wistful” comes from the combination of the word “wishful” and a now-outdated word “wistly,” which meant “intently.”
Therefore, it means more than missing something but wishing intently for the impossible or for a time in the past that is now over.
Essentially, “wistfulness” usually follows a loss of some kind.
Have a look at these example sentences to see what we mean:
As he spoke about his departed wife, I saw a look of wistfulness pass over his face.
The wistfulness of the author is evident in the colorful descriptions of his childhood, especially when compared to the more dour accounts of his adult life.
Nostalgic
The Cambridge Dictionary defines “nostalgic” as “feeling happy and also slightly sad when you think about things that happened in the past.”
Therefore, this is a great, bitter-sweet adjective for missing someone when you remember experiences you have shared in the past.
To feel “nostalgic” is also a psychological term for missing someone. In fact, there is plenty of literature about the effect of nostalgia on a person’s mood and disposition in the field of psychology.
We have learned that feeling “nostalgic” can be very positive. After all, reflecting on the past helps us remember the meaning of our lives and creates optimism for the future.
It can even help us cope with grief, particularly when we remember our positive experiences with someone we have lost.
However, living in the past can also lead to melancholy. Especially if one feels that life was better before and that they have lost something or someone important.
Let’s see how you might use this term in a couple of examples:
I’ve been feeling extremely nostalgic lately, but it gives me hope that if I felt so much joy in the past, I can feel it again in the future.
I’ve been really missing your dad lately, and sometimes I worry that I’ll fall into grief if I get too nostalgic.
Saudade
If you are looking for a pretty word for missing someone, why not try the Portuguese word “saudade” (pronounced “soh-dah-juh”)?
According to Dictionary.com, “saudade” is “a deep emotional state of melancholic longing for a person or thing that is absent.”
Sure, this isn’t an English word, but English borrows from other languages all the time! What’s more, you can impress your beloved when you use this word, since it will show that you are cultured and occasionally bilingual.
Like the other terms on our list, “saudade” refers to a feeling of slight sadness and longing for another person or something else that is absent in your life.
Although painful, the saudade you feel when you think of Melonie just shows the depths of your feelings for her.
I feel something akin to saudade for the simplicity of my childhood.