forlorn hope
1
9.9
- noun
- /fɔrˈlɔrn hoʊp/
- Archaic
:
esperanza vana
- They believe in a forlorn hope that will carry them through; one day a crack in the established evidence will appear, and the whole lot will be shown entirely wrong.
Examples
-
The forlorn hope of the Contras was that the Sandinistas might cross into Honduras in sufficient force to warrant an engagement with U.S. forces.
Academic text (1991) -
Perhaps that was a forlorn hope?
Fiction book (1993) -
The kind of hope that used to be called, and should still be called, a forlorn hope.
Blog text (3) -
If only it were not a forlorn hope.
Blog text (30) -
It was certainly a forlorn hope, judging from today's performance.
Fiction book (1991) -
This is the last straw precisely because so many of us have already swallowed our principles on all of those other issues in the now vain and forlorn hope that, in the end, Bush would give us originalist justices.
Blog text (4) -
Working against such powerful opponents was, for them, a forlorn hope of securing victory.
-
She realized that trying to change his mind was a forlorn hope after so many failed attempts.
-
The team's chance of winning the championship felt like a forlorn hope given their last place standing.
Synonyms
39
4.9
Something that has no chance of success
22
6.6
A hopeless search for something that does not exist
12
5.1
An effort that is not likely to succeed
3
5.8
A final effort you make when nothing else works
Antonyms
How Likely
12
2.4
1
4.6
7
5.4
- Informal
58
4.6
- Archaic
1
9.9
- NSFW
23
7.9
Surface Forms
Morphology
The literal meanings of 'forlorn' (hopeless/unlikely) and 'hope' (expectation) would lead a B1 learner to infer something unlikely or desperate, so part of the sense is recoverable. However, the idiomatic use refers specifically to a risky venture or undertaking (a semantic shift from 'feeling' to 'enterprise') and has an archaic/military history, so the full meaning is not fully predictable from the constituents alone.
Etymology
The phrase forlorn hope comes from old wars where small groups of soldiers were sent to lead the most dangerous attacks and often did not return. Because these missions were forlorn, meaning 'nearly hopeless', forlorn hope now means 'a desperate task' with little chance of success.