What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Nostalgia vs Wistful - What's the difference?

nostalgia | wistful |

As a noun nostalgia

is a longing for home or familiar surroundings; homesickness.

As an adjective wistful is

full of yearning or longing.

nostalgia

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • A longing for home or familiar surroundings; homesickness.
  • A bittersweet yearning for the things of the past.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-16, author=(Oliver Burkeman)
  • , volume=189, issue=10, page=20, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= This is the cutest article , passage= I can't have been the only person, last week, to feel a rush of nostalgia upon learning that Thames Water had removed a bus-sized, 15-tonne lump of food fat ("mixed with wet wipes") from the sewers under London. The fatberg was an August news story redolent of the old-fashioned silly season.}}
  • Reminiscence of the speaker's childhood or younger years.
  • Derived terms

    * nostalgic * nostalgically

    See also

    * halcyon days * hark back * memory lane * reminiscence ----

    wistful

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • full of yearning or longing
  • His eyes grew wistful as he recalled his university days.
  • sad and thoughtful
  • Synonyms

    * (thoughtful sadness) (l)

    References