Meaning
失落 describes a feeling of disappointment, dejection, or melancholy when something expected doesn't happen or when something valued is lost. It captures that sinking feeling of emotional letdown or the state of having misplaced something important.
Usage
Most commonly used to describe emotional states of disappointment or feeling down. When used as a verb, it means to lose or misplace something. In modern Mandarin, the adjectival usage (feeling disappointed/dejected) is more frequent in everyday speech than the verb meaning. Often appears in phrases like 感到失落 (to feel disappointed).
Examples
- 01听到这个消息后，他感到很失落。, .After hearing this news, he felt very disappointed.
- 02她考试没考好，心里有些失落。, .She didn't do well on the exam and felt somewhat dejected.
Characters
Common collocations
- 感到失落to feel disappointed/dejected
- 失落感sense of loss, feeling of disappointment
- 心情失落mood is down/dejected
Antonyms
Origin
The combination of 失 (to lose) and 落 (to fall) literally suggests something falling away or being lost, which naturally extends to the metaphorical sense of losing one's spirits or feeling emotionally deflated.