adj. 1. a. Abandoned, deserted, or desolate: "my high school chums ... enjoying cider and doughnuts ... while I was trapped up on that forlorn mountain" (Howard Frank Mosher). b. Sad or lonely, especially from being deserted or abandoned: "waved them goodbye from the door like forlorn parents waving off a honeymoon couple" (Anne Bartlett). c. Suggesting or characterized by sadness or loneliness: the forlorn whistle of a train in the night. d. Wretched or pitiful in appearance or condition: people living in forlorn shacks. 2. Bereft or deprived: forlorn of all hope. 3. Nearly hopeless; desperate: a forlorn acknowledgment of failure. [Middle English forloren, past participle of forlesen, to abandon, from Old English forlēosan; see leu- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] for·lornly adv. for·lornness n. |
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