| Library / English Dictionary |
HOPELESS
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
(informal to emphasize how bad it is) beyond hope of management or reform
Example:
he is a hopeless romantic
Classified under:
Similar:
bad (having undesirable or negative qualities)
Domain usage:
colloquialism (a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Without hope because there seems to be no possibility of comfort or success
Example:
with a hopeless sigh he sat down
Classified under:
Similar:
abject; unhopeful (showing utter resignation or hopelessness)
black; bleak; dim (offering little or no hope)
despairing; desperate (arising from or marked by despair or loss of hope)
despondent; heartsick (without or almost without hope)
forlorn (marked by or showing hopelessness)
futureless (having no prospect or hope of a future)
helpless; lost (unable to function; without help)
insoluble (without hope of solution)
Also:
discouraging (depriving of confidence or hope or enthusiasm and hence often deterring action)
pessimistic (expecting the worst possible outcome)
impossible (not capable of occurring or being accomplished or dealt with)
Antonym:
hopeful (having or manifesting hope)
Derivation:
hopelessness (the despair you feel when you have abandoned hope of comfort or success)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Certain to fail
Example:
the situation is hopeless
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
impossible (not capable of occurring or being accomplished or dealt with)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Of a person unable to do something skillfully
Example:
I'm hopeless at mathematics
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
unskilled (not having or showing or requiring special skill or proficiency)
Derivation:
hopelessness (the despair you feel when you have abandoned hope of comfort or success)
Context examples:
The Movement Disorder Society version of the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS) Over the past week have you felt low, sad, hopeless or unable to enjoy things?
(MDS-UPDRS - Depressed Mood, NCI Thesaurus)
Patient Health Questionnaire - 9 (PHQ-9) Feeling down, depressed, or hopeless.
(PHQ-9 - Feeling Down, Depressed, or Hopeless, NCI Thesaurus)
Geriatric Depression Scale, Short Form (GDS-SF) Do you feel that your situation is hopeless?
(GDS-SF - Feel Situation is Hopeless, NCI Thesaurus)
Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) Do you feel that your situation is hopeless?
(GDS - Feel Situation Is Hopeless, NCI Thesaurus)
They go from very happy, "up," and active to very sad and hopeless, "down," and inactive, and then back again.
(Bipolar Disorder, NIH: National Institute of Mental Health)
My heart bled for you, as I talked of happiness; and yet he is sensible, he is agreeable, and with such a woman as you, it was not absolutely hopeless.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
She counted the days that must intervene before their invitation could be sent; hopeless of seeing him before.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
In that, he could not be defended; but if he had injured her, how much more had he injured himself; if her case were pitiable, his was hopeless.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
When first sounded on the subject, he was so miserable, that they were almost hopeless.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
They rocked back and forth in a slow and hopeless way, and regularly, once every five minutes, Ebbits emitted a low groan.
(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)
