longsought

Longsought is an English adjective describing something that has been desired or pursued for a long time and has at last been attained or recognized. It signals that fulfillment has taken considerable time and effort and is often used to emphasize the culmination of a long quest.

In modern writing, the usual form when used before a noun is hyphenated: long-sought victory, long-sought solution, long-sought peace. The unhyphenated closed form longsought appears in some older texts and in occasional contemporary uses, but hyphenation is generally preferred by most style guides. When used after a verb, as in the phrase the goal was long sought, the two-word form is more common, though hyphenated variants can appear in some contexts.

Etymology and history: longsought is built from long and sought, with sought being the past participle of seek. The compound is attested in English from at least the 18th century and has since circulated in literature, journalism, and academic writing, especially in formal or rhetorical contexts.

Related terms and nuances: longsought is closely related to long-awaited, long-desired, and hard-won, but each carries a slightly different emphasis. Long-sought emphasizes the duration of the pursuit and the eventual discovery or achievement; long-awaited stresses the anticipation preceding the event; hard-won highlights the effort, sacrifice, and difficulty involved.