Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition


Hopeless

Hope′less

,
Adj.
1.
Destitute of hope; having no expectation of good; despairing.
I am a woman, friendless,
hopeless
.
Shakespeare
2.
Giving no ground of hope; promising nothing desirable; desperate;
as, a
hopeless
cause
.
The
hopeless
word of “never to return”
Breathe I against thee, upon pain of life.
Shakespeare
Hope′less-ly
,
adv.
Hope′less-ness
,
Noun.

Webster 1828 Edition


Hopeless

HO'PELESS

,
Adj.
Destitute of hope; having no expectation of that which is desirable; despairing.
I am a woman, friendless, hopeless.
1.
Giving no ground of hope or expectation of good; promising nothing desirable; desperate; as a hopeless condition.

Definition 2024


hopeless

hopeless

English

Adjective

hopeless (comparative more hopeless, superlative most hopeless)

  1. Without hope; despairing; not expecting anything positive.
    • William Shakespeare
      I am a woman, friendless, hopeless.
    • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 15, in The Mirror and the Lamp:
      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
  3. Without talent, not skilled
    He's a hopeless writer, but can draw very well.

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

Antonyms

Translations

References

  • hopeless in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
  • hopeless in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
  • hopeless at OneLook Dictionary Search