First Known Use: before 12th century
Dictionary
forlorn
adjective for·lorn \fər-ˈlȯrn, fȯr-\
: sad and lonely
: empty and in poor condition
: not having much chance of success : nearly hopeless
Full Definition of FORLORN
1
3
: nearly hopeless <a forlorn attempt>
— for·lorn·ly adverb
— for·lorn·ness \-ˈlȯrn-nəs\ noun
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Examples of FORLORN
- Against the forlorn backdrop of the muddy terrain the media circus has left behind, the young mother is photographed for a fashion spread wearing a … white dress. —James Wolcott, Vanity Fair, September 1998
- There is nothing quite so forlorn as a closed factory—Vic Wilcox knows, having supervised a shutdown himself in his time. —David Lodge, Nice Work, 1990
- Like Ozymandias, once king of kings but now two legs of a broken statue in Percy Shelley's desert, the great facade of Union Station in Washington, D.C., stands forlorn … —Stephen Jay Gould, Natural History, November 1986
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Origin of FORLORN
Middle English forloren, from Old English, past participle of forlēosan to lose, from for- + lēosan to lose — more at lose
Related to FORLORN
- Synonyms
- bad, blue, brokenhearted, cast down, crestfallen, dejected, depressed, despondent, disconsolate, doleful, down, downcast, downhearted, down in the mouth, droopy, sad, gloomy, glum, hangdog, heartbroken, heartsick, heartsore, heavyhearted, inconsolable, joyless, low, low-spirited, melancholic, melancholy, miserable, mournful, saddened, sorrowful, sorry, unhappy, woebegone, woeful, wretched
Synonym Discussion of FORLORN
alone, solitary, lonely, lonesome, lone, forlorn, desolate mean isolated from others. alone stresses the objective fact of being by oneself with slighter notion of emotional involvement than most of the remaining terms <everyone needs to be alone sometimes>. solitary may indicate isolation as a chosen course <glorying in the calm of her solitary life> but more often it suggests sadness and a sense of loss <left solitary by the death of his wife>. lonely adds to solitary a suggestion of longing for companionship <felt lonely and forsaken>. lonesome heightens the suggestion of sadness and poignancy <an only child often leads a lonesome life>. lone may replace lonely or lonesome but typically is as objective as alone <a lone robin pecking at the lawn>. forlorn stresses dejection, woe, and listlessness at separation from one held dear <a forlorn lost child>. desolate implies inconsolable grief at loss or bereavement <desolate after her brother's death>.
Rhymes with FORLORN
acorn, adorn, airborne, althorn, baseborn, bass horn, bicorne, blackthorn, blue corn, boxthorn, broomcorn, buckthorn, bullhorn, careworn, Christ's-thorn, Dearborn, dehorn, dent corn, earthborn, einkorn, field corn, firethorn, firstborn, flint corn, foghorn, forewarn, forworn, freeborn, French horn, green corn, greenhorn, hartshorn, hawthorn, highborn, hulled corn, inborn, inkhorn, krummhorn, leghorn, longhorn, lovelorn, lowborn, newborn, outworn, pod corn, popcorn, post horn, pronghorn, ramshorn, reborn, saxhorn, seaborne, self-born, shipborne, shoehorn, shopworn, shorthorn, skyborne, soilborne, stillborn, stinkhorn, suborn, sweet corn, tick-borne, timeworn, tinhorn, toilworn, tricorne, trueborn, twice-born, twinborn, unborn, unworn, wayworn, wellborn, well-worn, wind-borne
FORLORNNESS Defined for Kids
forlorn
adjective for·lorn \fər-ˈlȯrn\
Definition of FORLORN for Kids
: sad from being left alone
— for·lorn·ly adverb <The dog howled forlornly.>
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