forlornness
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for·lorn
(fər-lôrn′, fôr-)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 Indo-European roots.]
for·lorn′ly adv.
for·lorn′ness n.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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Noun | 1. | forlornness - sadness resulting from being forsaken or abandoned sadness, unhappiness - emotions experienced when not in a state of well-being |
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