Hopeless

Pronunciation

Origin

hope + -less

Full definition of hopeless

Adjective

1. Destitute of hope; having no expectation of good; despairing.
• William ShakespeareI am a woman, friendless, hopeless.
• 1918, W. B. Maxwell, The Mirror and the Lamp Chapter 15, Edward Churchill still attended to his work in a hopeless mechanical manner like a sleep-walker who walks safely on a well-known round. But his Roman collar galled him, his cossack stifled him, his biretta was as uncomfortable as a merry-andrew's cap and bells.
2. Giving no ground of hope; promising nothing desirable; desperate.
   a hopeless cause

Usage notes

Nouns to which "hopeless" is often applied: case, situation, romantic, love, cause, person, despair, life, undertaking, alcoholic, man, endeavor, place, pain, agony, project.

Synonyms

• desperate

Antonyms

• hopeful