forlorn
adjective/fəˈlɔːn/
/fərˈlɔːrn/
- (of a person) appearing lonely and unhappy
- She looked so forlorn, standing there in the rain.
- A couple of forlorn tourists waited for their coach.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverbs- be
- feel
- look
- …
- very
- quite
- utterly
- …
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- (of a place) not cared for and with no people in it
- Empty houses quickly take on a forlorn look.
- The cottage stood forlorn and empty.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverbs- be
- feel
- look
- …
- very
- quite
- utterly
- …
- unlikely to succeed, come true, etc.
- She waited in the forlorn hope that he would one day come back to her.
- His father smiled weakly in a forlorn attempt to reassure him that everything was all right.
Word OriginOld English forloren ‘depraved, morally abandoned’, past participle of forlēosan ‘lose’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch verliezen and German verlieren, and ultimately to for- and lose. Senses (1 and 2) date from the 16th cent.
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forlorn