Wordnet 3.0
ADJECTIVE (1)
1.
marked by or showing hopelessness;
- Example: "the last forlorn attempt"- Example: "a forlorn cause"
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Forlorn \For*lorn"\, a. [OE., p. p. of forlesen to lose utterly,
AS. forle['o]san (p. p. forloren); pref. for- + le['o]san (in
comp.) to lose; cf. D. verliezen to lose, G. verlieren, Sw.
f["o]rlora, Dan. forloren, Goth. fraliusan to lose. See
For-, and Lorn, a., Lose, v. t.]
1. Deserted; abandoned; lost.
[1913 Webster]
Of fortune and of hope at once forlorn. --Spenser.
[1913 Webster]
Some say that ravens foster forlorn children.
--Shak.
[1913 Webster]
2. Destitute; helpless; in pitiful plight; wretched;
miserable; almost hopeless; desperate.
[1913 Webster]
For here forlorn and lost I tread. --Goldsmith.
[1913 Webster]
The condition of the besieged in the mean time was
forlorn in the extreme. --Prescott.
[1913 Webster]
She cherished the forlorn hope that he was still
living. --Thomson.
[1913 Webster]
A forlorn hope [D. verloren hoop, prop., a lost band or
troop; verloren, p. p. of verliezen to lose + hoop band;
akin to E. heap. See For-, and Heap.] (Mil.), a body
of men (called in F. enfants perdus, in G. verlornen
posten) selected, usually from volunteers, to attempt a
breach, scale the wall of a fortress, or perform other
extraordinarily perilous service; also, a desperate case
or enterprise.
Syn: Destitute, lost; abandoned; forsaken; solitary;
helpless; friendless; hopeless; abject; wretched;
miserable; pitiable.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Forlese \For*lese"\, v. t. [p. p. Forlore, Forlorn.] [OE.
forlesen. See Forlorn.]
To lose utterly. [Obs.] --haucer.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Forlorn \For*lorn"\, n.
1. A lost, forsaken, or solitary person.
[1913 Webster]
Forced to live in Scotland a forlorn. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
2. A forlorn hope; a vanguard. [Obs.]
[1913 Webster]
Our forlorn of horse marched within a mile of the
enemy. --Oliver
Cromvell.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
forlorn
adj 1: marked by or showing hopelessness; "the last forlorn
attempt"; "a forlorn cause"
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
75 Moby Thesaurus words for "forlorn":
abandoned, affording no hope, alone, apathetic, bereft, bleak,
cheerless, comfortless, cynical, defenseless, dejected, depressed,
deserted, desolate, desole, despairing, desperate, despondent,
desponding, disconsolate, dismal, dispirited, dolorous, down,
fatherless, forgotten, forsaken, friendless, fruitless, futile,
gloomy, glum, godforsaken, grim, heartsick, heartsore, helpless,
homeless, hopeless, in despair, inconsolable, joyless, kithless,
lonely, lonesome, lost, low-spirited, lugubrious, melancholy,
miserable, motherless, mournful, neglected, oppressed, outcast,
pathetic, pessimistic, pitiable, pitiful, sad, shunned, sick,
sick at heart, solitary, sorrowful, soul-sick, unconsolable,
unfriended, unhappy, unhopeful, vain, without hope, woebegone,
woeful, wretched