MEANING
1. To long deeply and sorrowfully for someone or something absent.
2. To weaken or waste away, especially through grief, deprivation, or illness.
3. A usually evergreen conifer with needle-like leaves, cones, and resinous wood.
Use it for
Homesickness, absent loved ones, consuming longing.Make absence an ongoing force on a person's vitality.
Words that belong together
- pine for home
- pine after someone
- pine away
On the page
She pined for the coast throughout the years inland.
The widower pined away despite his family's attempts to help.
He was pining for a home that had already been demolished.
Nearby words
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- pine / pines
- Past tense
- pined
- Past participle
- pined
- Present participle
- pining
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- pine / pines
- Present continuous
- am/is/are pining
- Present perfect
- have/has pined
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been pining
- Past
- pined
- Past continuous
- was/were pining
- Past perfect
- had pined
- Past perfect continuous
- had been pining
- Future
- will pine / pines
- Future continuous
- will be pining
- Future perfect
- will have pined
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been pining
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
Usage notes
Primary category: gothic. Usually pine for someone or pine away; unrelated noun pine names a tree. Verb: pine, pines, pined, pined, pining.
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
Keep a thought for later. Sign in to save privately.