hopeless
EnglishEdit
EtymologyEdit
hope + -less, compare Swedish hopplös.
PronunciationEdit
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈhoʊplɪs/
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈhəʊplɪs/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -oʊplɪs
- Hyphenation: hope‧less
AdjectiveEdit
hopeless (comparative more hopeless, superlative most hopeless)
- Without hope; despairing; not expecting anything positive.
- 1613 (date written), William Shakespeare; [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:
- I am a woman, friendless, hopeless.
- 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XV, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
- 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.
- 1966, James Workman, The Mad Emperor, Melbourne, Sydney: Scripts, page 41:
- A gaoler struck him, pushing him back in place in the hopeless, helpless line of prisoners.
- Giving no ground of hope; promising nothing desirable; desperate.
- a hopeless cause
- Without talent, not skilled.
- He's a hopeless writer, but can draw very well.
- 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:
- " It is a pure waste of time." "Not at all," Malone answered. "It has ventilated an evil. There were reporters in court. Surely some of them have some sense. They will note the injustice." "Not they," said Mailey. "The Press is hopeless. My God, what a responsibility these people take on themselves, and how little they guess the price that each will pay! I know."
- (of an adverse condition) Incurable.
- She is a hopeless romantic.
- He is a hopeless idler.
SynonymsEdit
AntonymsEdit
Derived termsEdit
CollocationsEdit
with nouns
- hopeless case
- hopeless situation
- hopeless romantic
- hopeless love
- hopeless cause
- hopeless person
- hopeless despair
- hopeless life
- hopeless undertaking
- hopeless alcoholic
- hopeless man
- hopeless endeavor
- hopeless place
- hopeless pain
- hopeless agony
- hopeless project
TranslationsEdit
destitute of hope; having no expectation of good; despairing
|
desperate — see desperate
without talent — see talentless
not skilled — see nonskilled
incurable — see incurable
ReferencesEdit
- “hopeless”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “hopeless”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- hopeless at OneLook Dictionary Search