forlorn hope
a perilous or desperate enterprise.
a vain hope.
Obsolete. a group of soldiers assigned to perform some unusually dangerous service.
Origin of forlorn hope
1Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use forlorn hope in a sentence
"I wasn't joking last night when I told Goodell that this was something of a forlorn hope," he said.
Raw Gold | Bertrand W. Sinclair"The high and mighty sent me out to lead a forlorn hope," Mac dryly responded.
Raw Gold | Bertrand W. SinclairThe same old battalions being called on again and again to do the forlorn hope sort of business.
Gallipoli Diary, Volume I | Ian HamiltonMiles, leading the forlorn hope, was soon to pay the price of his daring.
Fifty-Two Stories For Girls | VariousIt was a forlorn hope, in a forlorn cause, and it proved futile.
Hidden Gold | Wilder Anthony
British Dictionary definitions for forlorn hope
a hopeless or desperate enterprise
a faint hope
obsolete a group of soldiers assigned to an extremely dangerous duty
Origin of forlorn hope
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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