1. a feeling of gentle sadness mixed with longing, especially for something in the past

Examples

• There was a note of wistfulness in her voice when she spoke about her childhood home.
• He looked at the old photographs with wistfulness, remembering happier times.
• The wistfulness in her eyes revealed how much she missed her grandmother.
• The song filled him with wistfulness for his college days.
• She felt a deep wistfulness as she watched her children grow up so quickly.
• The autumn leaves stirred a sense of wistfulness in the elderly man.