forlorn means abandoned, deserted, left behind. It carries an Arena rating of 1620, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, forlorn ranks #1,842 of 14,308 for Most Malleable Words, #2,374 of 14,451 for Most Whimsical Words, #2,430 of 14,340 for Most Vivid Words, #2,558 of 14,297 for Words That Escaped Their Books.
forlorn is pronounced /fəˈlɔːn/.
Why “forlorn” is a great word
Pitifully sad and abandoned, often with a sense of hopelessness or desolation. From Middle English forlorn, forloren, from Old English forloren, past participle of forlēosan ("to lose"), from the prefix for- ("away, completely") and lēosan ("to lose"), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *fraleusaną ("to lose"). Unlike "despondent," which suggests a collapse of spirit from lost hope, or "forsaken," which implies deliberate desertion, "forlorn" carries the quiet, pitiable weight of loss itself. It is the ache of something irrevocably misplaced—a single glove lying palm-up on a winter path, the empty swing creaking in a vacant playground, or the last light on a bench no one sits on anymore. It is not just loss, but loss absorbed into the bone of the world.
Etymology
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.
adj
- Abandoned, deserted, left behind.“For miſerie doth braueſt mindes abate, / And make them ſeeke for that they wont to ſcorne, / Of fortune and of hope at once forlorne.”
- Pitifully sad, wretched, miserable; lonely, especially from feeling abandoned, deserted, forsaken.“For here forlorn and loſt I tread, / With fainting ſteps and ſlow; / Where wilds immeaſurably ſpread, / Seem lengthening as I go.”
- Unlikely to succeed; hopeless.“To begin therefore with Traditions, which is your forlorn hope that in the first place we are to set upon: this must I needs tell you before we begin, that you much mistake the matter, if you think that traditions of all sorts promiscuously are struck at by our religion.”
noun
- A forlorn hope.“The Regiment being drawn up into the former Figure, they may proceed to Firings upon it, firſt let the Forlorns fire five or six times over, being commanded by the eldeſt Captains Lieutenant, who is to be aſſiſted by a couple of able Serjeants; after let him wheel off to the right and left, and bring them down in the Reer of the Pikes. Then let the ſecond Captains Lieutenant being aſſiſted by two ”
- A member of a forlorn hope.
Words closest in meaning
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