Hopeless Meaning
/ˈhəʊplɪs/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjWithout hope; despairing; not expecting anything positive.
adjGiving no ground of hope; promising nothing desirable; desperate.
Sentence Examples
You really are hopeless.
I'm hopeless at ironing so I buy permanent press clothes.
CEFR Practice Quiz
After failing the exam three times, he felt completely ____ about passing.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Without any food or water, their situation in the desert began to look increasingly ____.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree Proto-West Germanic *tōhopōnder. Old English tōhopa Old English hopa Middle English hope English hope Proto-Indo-European *lewh₁- Proto-Indo-European *lewHs-der. Proto-Germanic *leusaną Proto-Germanic *lausaz Proto-Germanic *-lausaz Proto-West Germanic *-laus Old English -lēas Middle English -les English -less English hopeless From hope + -less. Compare Swedish hopplös.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"I am a woman, friendless, hopeless."
— 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]:
"And he a prince; To marry him is hopeleſſe;"
— 1613–1614 (date written), John Fletcher, William Shak[e]speare, The Two Noble Kinsmen: […], London: […] Tho[mas] Cotes, for Iohn Waterson; […], published 1634, →OCLC, Act II, scene iii, page 31:
"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."
— 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XV, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
"A gaoler struck him, pushing him back in place in the hopeless, helpless line of prisoners."
— 1966, James Workman, The Mad Emperor, Melbourne, Sydney: Scripts, page 41:
"My mind is a camera / Camela mon camela ambra / It brings into focus / The dreams of kings / And even the hopeless"
— 1970, The Friends of Distinction, “My Mind Is a Camera”, in Real Friends:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
After failing the exam three times, he felt completely ____ about passing.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Without any food or water, their situation in the desert began to look increasingly ____.