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forlorn - 5 dictionary results

for⋅lorn

  [fawr-lawrn]
Use forlorn in a Sentence
–adjective
1. desolate or dreary; unhappy or miserable, as in feeling, condition, or appearance.
2. lonely and sad; forsaken.
3. expressive of hopelessness; despairing: forlorn glances.
4. bereft; destitute: forlorn of comfort.
Origin:
bef. 1150; ME foreloren (ptp. of forlesen to lose completely), OE forloren (ptp. of forlēosan); c. OHG firliosan (G verlieren), Goth fraliusan. See for-, lorn

Related forms:
for⋅lorn⋅ly, adverb
for⋅lorn⋅ness, noun

Synonyms:
1. pitiful, pitiable, helpless, woebegone, comfortless. 2. alone, lost, solitary. See desolate. 4. deprived.

Antonyms:
1. happy. 2. accompanied.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To forlorn
for·lorn   (fər-lôrn', fôr-)   
adj.  
    1. Appearing sad or lonely because deserted or abandoned.
    2. Forsaken or deprived: forlorn of all hope.
  2. Wretched or pitiful in appearance or condition: forlorn roadside shacks.
  3. Nearly hopeless; desperate. See Synonyms at despondent.

[Middle English forloren, past participle of forlesen, to abandon, from Old English forlēosan; see leu- in Indo-European roots.]
for·lorn'ly adv., for·lorn'ness n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Forlorn

For*lorn"\, a. [OE., p. p. of forlesen to lose utterly, AS. forle['o]san (p. p. forloren); pref. for- + le['o]san (in comp.) to lose; cf. D. verliezen to lose, G. verlieren, Sw. f["o]rlora, Dan. forloren, Goth. fraliusan to lose. See For-, and Lorn, a., Lose, v. t.]

1. Deserted; abandoned; lost.

Of fortune and of hope at once forlorn. --Spenser.

Some say that ravens foster forlorn children. --Shak.

2. Destitute; helpless; in pitiful plight; wretched; miserable; almost hopeless; desperate.

For here forlorn and lost I tread. --Goldsmith.

The condition of the besieged in the mean time was forlorn in the extreme. --Prescott.

She cherished the forlorn hope that he was still living. --Thomson.

A forlorn hope [D. verloren hoop, prop., a lost band or troop; verloren, p. p. of verliezen to lose + hoop band; akin to E. heap. See For-, and Heap.] (Mil.), a body of men (called in F. enfants perdus, in G. verlornen posten) selected, usually from volunteers, to attempt a breach, scale the wall of a fortress, or perform other extraordinarily perilous service; also, a desperate case or enterprise.

Syn: Destitute, lost; abandoned; forsaken; solitary; helpless; friendless; hopeless; abject; wretched; miserable; pitiable.

Forlorn

For*lorn"\, n. 1. A lost, forsaken, or solitary person.

Forced to live in Scotland a forlorn. --Shak.

2. A forlorn hope; a vanguard. [Obs.]

Our forlorn of horse marched within a mile of the enemy. --Oliver Cromvell.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : forlorn
Spanish: triste, melancólico, desolado,
German: verzweifelt, verlassen,
Japanese: わびしい
More Translations »

forlorn 
1154, "depraved," pp. of obsolete forlesan "be deprived of, lose, abandon," from O.E. forleosan, from for- "completely" + leosan "to lose" (see lose). In the Mercian hymns, L. perditionis is glossed by O.E. forlorenisse. Originally "forsaken, abandoned;" sense of "wretched, miserable" first recorded 1582. Commonly in forlorn hope (1579), which is a partial translation of Du. verloren hoop, in which hoop means "troop, band," lit. "heap," and the sense of the whole phrase is of a suicide mission. The phrase is usually used incorrectly in Eng., and the misuse has colored the sense of forlorn.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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