New Word of the Week

I went to my walking-dictionary porter and asked him for the first unusual word that popped up in his mind. 

He write down on a little piece of paper for me:  FORLORN

I'm sure most of you have heard of this word, but it is not a word you just whip out in any sentence.  As I said, that porter (joie-de-vivre) is a walking-dictionary and the description he gave for the word is exactly like it is out of a dictionary.

for·lorn   /fɔrˈlɔrn/ Show Spelled[fawr-lawrn]


adjective

1. desolate or dreary; unhappy or miserable, as in feeling, condition, or appearance.

2. lonely and sad; forsaken.

3. expressive of hopelessness; despairing: forlorn glances.

4. bereft; destitute: forlorn of comfort.


Origin

before 1150; Middle English foreloren (past participle of forlesen to lose completely), Old English forloren (past participle of forlēosan ); cognate with Old High German firliosan ( German verlieren ), Gothic fraliusan. See for-, lorn

Related forms

for·lorn·ly, adverb

for·lorn·ness, noun

un·for·lorn, adjective

Synonyms

1. pitiful, pitiable, helpless, woebegone, comfortless.
 2. alone, lost, solitary. See desolate. 4. deprived.
Antonyms

1. happy.
2. accompanied.


I tried to test the word out on my oldies...

OT:  What does forlorn mean?
Resident 1:  Sad
Resident 2:  "Fore lawn" is right in front of the "Agter Lawn"

:)

Forlorn: Photo by Photographer David L. Forney - photo.net