Idiom
Star-crossed lovers
Star-crossed lovers are a couple whose love seems doomed by bad luck or fate, so they cannot be happy together.
How people use it
The phrase is used for couples in stories, films and real life who face huge obstacles, such as feuding families, distance or terrible timing. It has a romantic, dramatic and somewhat literary tone. People also use star-crossed alone for anything ill-fated (a star-crossed project). Writers sometimes use it lightly, for example about two friends who keep missing each other. It suggests bad luck, not that the couple did anything wrong.
Also said: star-crossed.
Examples
- The novel follows two star-crossed lovers who run rival bakeries on the same street.
- Maya and Leo felt like star-crossed lovers when his job moved him across the ocean.
- The opera tells the story of star-crossed lovers kept apart by their feuding families.
Where it comes from
Shakespeare appears to have coined 'star-crossed' in the prologue to Romeo and Juliet (about 1595), which calls the young couple 'a pair of star-cross'd lovers.' In his time, many people believed the stars and planets shaped human lives, so being crossed, or blocked, by the stars meant having fate against you. The fame of the play kept the phrase alive.
Check yourself
1. What does it mean to call a couple star-crossed lovers?
Answer: Their love seems doomed by bad luck. Star-crossed lovers are a couple that fate seems to keep apart. The phrase has nothing to do with stargazing.
2. Which play made the phrase famous?
Answer: Romeo and Juliet. The prologue of Romeo and Juliet calls the two young lovers a pair of star-crossed lovers.
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