hopeless

[ hohp-lis ]

adjective

1. providing no hope; beyond optimism or hope; desperate:

   a hopeless cancer diagnosis.

   Synonyms: incurable, remediless, irremediable

2. without hope; despairing:

   hopeless grief.

   Synonyms: dejected, disconsolate, forlorn

3. impossible to accomplish, solve, resolve, etc.:

   Balancing my budget is hopeless.

4. not able to perform, work, learn, or act as desired; inadequate for the purpose:

   As a poker player, you're hopeless.

hopeless

/ ˈhəʊplɪs /

adjective

1. having or offering no hope
2. impossible to analyse or solve
3. unable to learn, function, etc
4. informal.
   without skill or ability

Derived Forms

• ˈhopelessness, noun
• ˈhopelessly, adverb

Other Words From

• hope·less·ly adverb
• hope·less·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of hopeless¹

First recorded in 1560–70; hope + -less

Synonym Study

Hopeless, despairing, despondent, desperate all describe an absence of hope. Hopeless is used of a feeling of futility and passive abandonment of oneself to fate: Hopeless and grim, he still clung to the cliff. Despairing refers to the loss of hope in regard to a particular situation, whether important or trivial; it suggests an intellectual judgment concerning probabilities: despairing of victory; despairing of finding his gloves. Despondent always suggests melancholy and depression; it refers to an emotional state rather than to an intellectual judgment: Despondent over his failing career, he fell back into substance and alcohol use. At the end of her marriage, she became despondent and suspicious. Desperate conveys a suggestion of recklessness resulting from loss of hope: As the time grew shorter, he became desperate. It may also refer to something arising from extreme need or danger: a desperate remedy; a desperate situation. despair.

Example Sentences

He embodies that seething, alienated rage of people who feel like they’ve been left to rot in the dark corners of the country, unseen, unheard and hopeless for far too long.

From Salon

"A lot of girls are finding themselves in a very hopeless, depressing situation where they do not see any way out," the 27-year-old Nobel Prize Winner says.

From BBC

If I can be ‘hopeful,’ then I can also be ‘hopeless,’ and I do not like feeling hopeless.”

From Salon

"What we expect is even greater increases in the number of kids feeling hopeless when all they're trying to do is live their lives."

From Salon

South Korea's Democratic Party, the opposition to Yoon's conservative People Power Party, at the time labelled the president's "shameless attitude" as "hopeless".

From BBC

Related Words

• desperate
• forlorn
• helpless
• impossible
• pointless
• sad
• tragic
• useless