lovelorn

love +‎ lorn

• (General American) IPA^(key): /lʌvˈlɔɹn/

lovelorn (comparative more lovelorn, superlative most lovelorn)

1. Abandoned or forsaken by one's lover; having constant bad luck in romance; desperate for love.
   • c. 1819-1820, John Keats, On Fame:

     Ye lovesick bards! repay her scorn for scorn; / Ye artists lovelorn! madmen that ye are, / Make your best bow to her and bid adieu / Then, if she likes it, she will follow you.

   • 1890, John Boyle O'Reilly, “A Tragedy”, in In Bohemia:

     A soft-breasted bird from the sea / Fell in love with the light-house flame; / And it wheeled round the tower on its airiest wing, / And floated and cried like a lovelorn thing;

2. Unloved, bereft of love.

   Synonym: loveless

• lovelornness

lovelorn (plural lovelorns)

1. A person who is lovelorn.
   • 1984, Alan Rudolph, Choose Me (motion picture), spoken by Nancy (Geneviève Bujold):

     And when there's a price involved, she can help others but - not herself. She gives advice to the lovelorn every day but she's never been in love herself. Or so I've heard.