Meaning
Two people in love whom fate, circumstance or opposing forces seem determined to thwart, typically with a doomed or tragic outcome. Literary-romantic register; now often applied loosely, sometimes playfully, to any ill-fated or forbidden couple. Romantic and literary; freely extended beyond tragedy, occasionally with tongue in cheek. Regional use: General English (Shakespearean origin).
Origin
The Chorus's prologue to Romeo and Juliet (mid-1590s) gives away the whole plot in one line: 'A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life.' The RSC lists it among the play's most famous quotations, and Wikipedia's sourced article says 'star-crossed' was coined in that prologue, noting the earliest quartos spell it 'starre-crost'. 'Crossed' meant thwarted, against a background of Elizabethan belief that the stars governed destiny, so the lovers are undone by a malign fate rather than simple bad luck. From announcing one plot the phrase grew into a general literary archetype, applied backwards to Pyramus and Thisbe and forwards to countless novels, films and television stories.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- a pair of star-crossed lovers
- star-cross'd lovers
- star-crossed pair
- star-crossed romance
Usage Examples
- The film recasts the border dispute as a story of star-crossed lovers on opposite sides.
- Reviewers dubbed the two leads the star-crossed lovers of the musical-theatre world.
- Their families had feuded for decades, which made the two of them feel like star-crossed lovers.