forlorn

  • 31forlorn hope — n. [altered < Du verloren hoop, lit., lost group < verloren, pp. of verliezen, to lose (akin to FORLORN) + hoop, a band, group; akin to HEAP] 1. a group of soldiers detached from the main group for a very dangerous mission 2. a desperate… …

    English World dictionary

  • 32forlorn hope — index pessimism Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …

    Law dictionary

  • 33forlorn hope — forlorn′ hope′ n. 1) a perilous or desperate enterprise 2) a vain hope 3) Obs. a group of soldiers assigned to perform some unusually dangerous service • Etymology: 1530–40 …

    From formal English to slang

  • 34forlorn hope — now means only ‘a faint hope, an enterprise which has little hope of success’, but its form has nothing to do with the English word hope. It was a 16c adaptation of Dutch verloren hoop, literally meaning ‘lost troop’, and in English originally… …

    Modern English usage

  • 35forlorn hope — noun /fəˌlɔːnˈhəʊp/ a) A small troop picked to make an advance attack, or the first attack; a storming party. Arnold, therefore, as usual with him, led the forlorn hope, marching about one hundred yards before the main body. b) Any dangerous or… …

    Wiktionary

  • 36forlorn hope — a persistent or desperate hope that is unlikely to be fulfilled. [C16: from Du. verloren hoop lost troop , orig. denoting a band of soldiers picked to begin an attack, many of whom would not survive.] → forlorn …

    English new terms dictionary

  • 37Forlorn — …

    Wikipedia

  • 38forlorn — adjective /fɔəlɚɻn/ a) abandoned, left behind, deserted b) miserable, as when lonely being abandoned. Syn: forsaken …

    Wiktionary

  • 39forlorn — Synonyms and related words: abandoned, affording no hope, alone, apathetic, bereft, bleak, cheerless, comfortless, cynical, defenseless, dejected, depressed, deserted, desolate, desole, despairing, desperate, despondent, desponding, disconsolate …

    Moby Thesaurus

  • 40forlorn — for·lorn || fÉ™(r) lÉ”rn / lɔːn adj. unhappy, sad; abandoned, forsaken; despairing, hopeless …

    English contemporary dictionary