Synonyms for forlorn
- adjective
Most common
Synonyms by meaning
Adjective
1. Desolate — pitifully sad, wretched, miserable; lonely, especially from feeling abandoned, deserted, forsaken
desolate, disconsolate, lonesome, cheerless, wretched, miserable, lonely, dejected, mournful, sad, doleful, solitary, despondent, dispirited, glum, inconsolable, broken-hearted, melancholy, forsaken, bleak, sorrowful, pitiable
2. Hopeless — unlikely to succeed; hopeless
3. Abandoned — abandoned, deserted, left behind
abandoned, deserted, derelict, peopleless rare
4. Helpless
Definitions
- adj. 1
Abandoned, deserted, left behind.
- adj. 2
Pitifully sad, wretched, miserable; lonely, especially from feeling abandoned, deserted, forsaken.
- adj. 3
Unlikely to succeed; hopeless.
Related words
- Word family
- forlornness
Example sentences
- lonely Left to himself, the child would feel very lonely.
- lonesome She has been very lonesome since her husband died.
- dejected He was left behind on Mars and is feeling dejected now.
- disconsolate A wilder or more disconsolate dwelling it was perhaps difficult to conceive.
- deprived You deprived Tom of the only pleasure that he had.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| forlorn | rising | |
| lonely | rising | |
| lonesome | rising | |
| dejected | rising | |
| disconsolate | rising | |
| deprived | falling |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 3 letters
- sad1
- 4 letters
- lost1, glum1, lorn
- 5 letters
- bleak1
- 6 letters
- lonely2
- 7 letters
- doleful2
- 8 letters
- solitary4, hopeless2, helpless2, deprived2, deserted3, wretched2, desolate3, forsaken3, lonesome2, derelict3, dejected3, mournful2, pitiable4
- 9 letters
- abandoned3, desperate2, miserable4, sorrowful3, cheerless
- 10 letters
- melancholy4, despondent3, friendless, dispirited4, unfriended, despairful, peopleless
- 12 letters
- inconsolable, disconsolate
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (lonely2 = 2 syllables).