FORLORN HOPE Definition & Meaning

forlorn hope

noun

a perilous or desperate enterprise.
a vain hope.
Obsolete.��a group of soldiers assigned to perform some unusually dangerous service.

forlorn hope

noun

a hopeless or desperate enterprise
a faint hope
obsolete��a group of soldiers assigned to an extremely dangerous duty

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51�Թ� History and Origins

Origin of forlorn hope¹

1530–40; folk-etymological alteration of Dutch verloren hoop literally, lost troop

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51�Թ� History and Origins

Origin of forlorn hope¹

C16 (in the obsolete sense): changed (by folk etymology) from Dutch verloren hoop lost troop, from verloren , past participle of verliezen to lose + hoop troop (literally: heap)

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

Still, I persisted in the forlorn hope that the GOP race might turn into a free-for-all.

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The London Times notes, ‘The prospect of reaching the summit seems now much less a forlorn hope than it did.’

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Then, a forlorn hope: maybe the replacement battery shipped empty?

From

And I’m not the only one.,” but he was guilty of false equivalence and a forlorn hope.

From

He added that public transport for many in north Wales was a "forlorn hope".

From

forlorn for love or money

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