star-crossed
star-crossed — adjective
1. doomed by ill fortune, as though the stars themselves had decreed an unhappy fat
doomed by ill fortune, as though the stars themselves had decreed an unhappy fate that cannot be escaped or overcome
Andrei and Paloma were star-crossed lovers whose families would never accept their relationship.
star-crossed lovers — the most common collocation
The star-crossed hero of Takeshi's novel meets a tragic end at the very moment of victory.
attributive use: star-crossed + noun (hero)
In the play, Baraka and Sivan play star-crossed musicians whose duet is never finished.
The expedition was star-crossed from the start — a blizzard buried their camp on the first night.
No one imagined the smiling couple on the wedding cake would become a star-crossed tale.
- ill-fated
very close in meaning but slightly less poetic; often used in news reporting
- doomed
stronger focus on inevitable destruction rather than a destiny of unhappiness; can be used with both serious and light subjects
- hapless
more comic or light-hearted tone; describes someone clumsy or unlucky rather than tragically fated
- jinxed
informal and superstitious; suggests a curse or bad luck charm rather than cosmic fate
文法句型
star-crossed + noun
用法筆記
The idiom 'star-crossed lovers' — from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet — is by far the most common use, but the adjective can modify other nouns such as 'hero', 'romance', 'voyage', or 'tale'. Predicative use ('The lovers were star-crossed') is grammatically possible but much rarer than attributive use ('star-crossed lovers').