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View synonyms for forlorn

forlorn

[ fawr-lawrn ]

adjective

  1. desolate or dreary; unhappy or miserable, as in feeling, condition, or appearance.

    Synonyms: comfortless, woebegone, helpless, pitiable, pitiful

    Antonyms: happy

  2. lonely and sad; forsaken.

    Synonyms: solitary, lost, alone

  3. expressive of hopelessness; despairing:

    forlorn glances.

  4. bereft; destitute:

    forlorn of comfort.

    Synonyms: deprived



forlorn

/ fəˈlɔːn /

adjective

  1. miserable, wretched, or cheerless; desolate
  2. deserted; forsaken
  3. postpositivefoll byof destitute; bereft

    forlorn of hope

  4. desperate

    the last forlorn attempt



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Derived Forms

  • forˈlornly, adverb
  • forˈlornness, noun

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Other Words From

  • for·lornly adverb
  • for·lornness noun
  • unfor·lorn adjective

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Word History and Origins

Origin of forlorn1

First recorded before 1150; Middle English foreloren “lost completely,” past participle of forlesen “to lose completely,” Old English forlēosan; cognate with Old High German firliosan ( German verlieren ), Gothic fraliusan; equivalent to for- + lorn

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Word History and Origins

Origin of forlorn1

Old English forloren lost, from forlēosan to lose; related to Old Saxon farliosan , Gothic fraliusan , Greek luein to release

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Synonym Study

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Example Sentences

Each mini-chapter here begins with a question, followed by what feels like a personal answer written specifically to the forlorn rather than to the world — in a story, really, but one that’s relatable.

The roof is missing and the whole island appeared forlorn and desolate.

The artist’s mother has a recurring role, and the show’s title comes from a forlorn message on an electronic sign outside the local middle school.

Patrick Hamlin is a forlorn East Coast writer who heads west and is quickly disillusioned by the seedy underbelly of Hollywood.

From Time

The piece concludes with “Your Blanket,” a forlorn ballad played over watercolor illustrations that capture life’s simple elegance.

Today, a forlorn air hangs over Santa Maria degli Angeli, like a graveyard where ghosts are buried.

The roads are forlorn, the landscape barren, the forests menacing.

He could not shake the image of that forlorn, mistreated horse.

That process is indeed likely to be prolonged, and maybe forlorn for some time to come.

He looked as forlorn as might be expected of a retired cop who finds himself the one behind bars.

"I wasn't joking last night when I told Goodell that this was something of a forlorn hope," he said.

"The high and mighty sent me out to lead a forlorn hope," Mac dryly responded.

It ended in a broad open moor, stony; and full of damp boggy hollows, forlorn and desolate under the autumn sky.

The same old battalions being called on again and again to do the forlorn hope sort of business.

I was more than ready to take her place; you actually stirred my maternal instincts when you arrived, you looked so forlorn.

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Forlìforlorn hope