forlorn
- 01 C1 Advanced
adj.feeling very sad, lonely, and miserable because you feel abandoned or forgotten.
adj.appearing pitifully sad, wretched, or lonely, typically as a result of being forsaken or abandoned.
Simple“The old dog looked forlorn sitting by the gate, waiting for a master who never returned.”
In context“The abandoned cottage stood forlorn against the hillside, its broken windows resembling eyes that had long ago lost their spark.”
Antonyms - 02 C1 Advanced
adj.unlikely to succeed or having little hope of a good result.
adj.describing an effort or situation that is unlikely to succeed; nearly hopeless.
Simple“It was a forlorn attempt to fix the car with just a piece of string.”
In context“Despite the overwhelming evidence against them, the small team made a forlorn plea for the project to continue.”
UsageOften appears in the fixed phrase 'forlorn hope'.
- 03 C2 Proficiency
n.a group of soldiers sent on a very dangerous mission that they are not expected to survive.
n.a body of troops chosen to take the lead in a hazardous operation, such as a siege, where the risk of death is extremely high.
Simple“The captain led the forlorn hope through the breach in the castle walls.”
In context“Volunteers for the forlorn hope were promised high rewards, though few lived to collect the gold after the fortress fell.”
UsageUsually functions as a collective noun phrase 'the forlorn hope'.
Teacher's tipThis sense is historical; modern speakers almost exclusively use 'forlorn hope' to mean a desperate or vanishingly small chance of success.
Synonymssuicide missionvanguard
“The sight of a forlorn Coco Gauff hitting serves in the rain on the US Open practice courts became the defining image of her struggles last year.”
“They are a forlorn lot, this bunch who shuffle glumly to the front of the stalls.”
From Middle English forlorn, forloren, from Old English forloren (past participle of forlēosan (“to lose”)), from Proto-Germanic fraluzanaz (“lost”), past participle of Proto-Germanic fraleusaną (“to lose”), equivalent to for- + lorn. Cognate with West Frisian ferlern (“lost”), Saterland Frisian ferlädden (“lost”), Dutch verloren (“lost”), German Low German verloren (“lost”), German verloren (“lost”), Swedish förlorad (“lost”). See further at lese/leese, lorn.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.