Forlorn describes a feeling of deep sadness and loneliness, often because something or someone has been abandoned or lost. When a character in a story sits forlorn by a window, waiting for someone who never comes, you can picture that heavy, empty feeling. A forlorn hope means one that seems almost hopeless, like expecting snow in July.

The word carries a particular weight. It describes the kind of sadness that comes with abandonment or isolation. A lost puppy looking for its owner appears forlorn, sitting alone and uncertain. An old, empty building can look forlorn too, as if it misses the people who once filled it with life.

You might feel forlorn after a best friend moves away, or when you're left out of something important. The word suggests both sadness and a kind of longing, that ache of missing something or someone. Charlotte's Web captures this feeling when Wilbur the pig feels forlorn in the barn before meeting Charlotte. It's stronger than disappointed and deeper than lonely: it's that combination of both that makes forlorn such a precise and powerful word.