star-crossed
UK/ˈstɑːˌkɹɒst//ˈstɑɹˌkɹɔst/
star-crossed adjective: ill-fated by destiny, the fate of the person being “written in the stars”.
Adjective
star-crossed (comparative more star-crossed, superlative most star-crossed)
- Ill-fated by destiny, the fate of the person being “written in the stars”.
- The star-crossed lovers looked into each other's eyes, before dying.
- From forth the fatall loynes of theſe two foes, / A paire of ſtarre-crost Louers tooke their life:c. 1591–1595 (date written), [William Shakespeare], “The Prologue”, in […] Romeo and Juliet. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Iohn Danter, published 1597, →OCLC
- Synonyms:
- ill-starred, augurous, baleful, bodeful, boding, dire, disastrous, divine, fatal, foreboding
Examples of star-crossed in a sentence
- For a few moments he sat dazed, visualizing that dreadful waste near New Orleans where in the sand it was so easy for the star-crossed Chevalier to bury the idol of his heart.1919 [1914], Compton Mackenzie, Sinister Street, volume 2:
- After a star-crossed regular season, Morgan vowed Thursday to show the college hoops world what it has been missing.2009 March 20, Adam Rittenberg, “Spartans overpower Robert Morris”, in ESPN:
Synonyms of star-crossed
15 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of star-crossed
| comparative | more star-crossed |
|---|---|
| superlative | most star-crossed |
| alternative form | starcrossed |
| alternative form | star-cross |
Origin of star-crossed
From star + crossed. Coined by William Shakespeare in 1597 in Romeo and Juliet, see quotations.
Questions about star-crossed
- What does star-crossed mean?
- Star-crossed means ill-fated by destiny, the fate of the person being “written in the stars”.
- How do you use star-crossed in a sentence?
- For a few moments he sat dazed, visualizing that dreadful waste near New Orleans where in the sand it was so easy for the star-crossed Chevalier to bury the idol of his heart.
- What part of speech is star-crossed?
- Star-crossed is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce star-crossed?
- Star-crossed is pronounced /ˈstɑːˌkɹɒst/ (UK).
Words near star-crossed in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: star-crossed (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Persent101-star-crossed.wav.
Cite this entry: “star-crossed.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/star-crossed. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.