hopeless
Americanadjective
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providing no hope; beyond optimism or hope; desperate.
a hopeless cancer diagnosis.
- Synonyms:
- incurable, remediless, irremediable
-
without hope; despairing.
hopeless grief.
- Synonyms:
- dejected, disconsolate, forlorn
-
impossible to accomplish, solve, resolve, etc..
Balancing my budget is hopeless.
-
not able to perform, work, learn, or act as desired; inadequate for the purpose.
As a poker player, you're hopeless.
adjective
-
having or offering no hope
-
impossible to analyse or solve
-
unable to learn, function, etc
-
informal without skill or ability
Synonym Usage
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. See also despair.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of hopeless
Explanation
Someone who's hopeless believes that nothing good can happen — a happy ending seems impossible. If you realize there's no way you'll pass your biology class, it's a hopeless situation. When you're struggling to learn a new language or tackling a difficult task and feeling utterly discouraged, you can say that you're hopeless. In other words, you have no hope that things will work out the way you wish they would. A plan that's doomed to failure is also hopeless, because there's no chance that it'll be successful: "His scheme to save enough money to backpack through Europe is hopeless, because he still hasn't found a job."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
An Afghan woman working for an international humanitarian group told AFP this week that "when you see the cuts every year in aid, you start to feel hopeless".
From Barron's ● Sep. 10, 2026
“Olivia’s involvement is such a gift, because she is reaching and educating young people who may feel checked out or hopeless on these issues,” Northup said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026
This can vary from high moods, for example, feeling very happy, excited or energetic, to low moods, such as feeling sad, tired or hopeless.
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026
The Roman situation before the fall of Constantinople was dire but not hopeless.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
The Greeks, hopeless, thought only of dying bravely.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
