hopeless

American  

[hohp-lis] / ˈhoʊp lɪs /

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.

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hopeless British  

/ 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

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Related Words

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

• hopelessly adverb
• hopelessness noun

Etymology

Origin of hopeless

First recorded in 1560–70; hope + -less

Example Sentences

"My father couldn't find a job, nor could I or my sisters. I was very hopeless, because there were no jobs in Bamiyan," she said, her smile fading.

From Barron's

Everyone’s kind of stepping on each other intentionally or not to get to what they want to do, and if things aren’t going the way you want it to it can feel hopeless.

From Los Angeles Times

“Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie” is about a pair of hopeless dreamers, though not all such types are created equal.

From The Wall Street Journal

The situation is rarely hopeless, “but it usually requires knowing where you are, resetting expectations and being very honest about tradeoffs,” HernandezAriano added.

From MarketWatch

I give chase, quickly losing ground, knowing it’s hopeless.

From Literature

Related Words

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