hopeless

hopeless — adjective

1. Feeling or showing that you no longer expect anything good to happen and believe

1.adjectiveB1
Definition

Feeling or showing that you no longer expect anything good to happen and believe a situation will not get better.

Example

Stephanie felt hopeless after the doctor told her the treatment had not worked.

feel hopeless about + noun/gerund

By the third hour of searching the dark forest, the rescue seemed completely hopeless.

Common collocations
  • feel hopeless
  • seem hopeless
  • look hopeless
  • hopeless about
Synonyms
  • despairing

    more intense, focused on a specific emotional moment

  • despondent

    more formal, describing a long-lasting low mood

Antonyms
  • hopeful

    expecting something good to happen

  • optimistic

    expecting the best possible outcome

Grammar Patterns

feel + hopeless + about + noun/gerund

seem/look + hopeless

Usage Note

Can describe both a person's internal emotional state (She felt hopeless about her job) and a situation viewed as having no chance of improvement (a hopeless case). Often followed by 'about' plus a noun or gerund.

Common Mistakes

She is hopeless to get better.
She feels hopeless about getting better.
'hopeless' is an adjective describing a state, not followed by an infinitive.

2. Having very little ability or skill in a particular activity; extremely bad at d

2.adjectiveB1
Definition

Having very little ability or skill in a particular activity; extremely bad at doing something.

Example

Dario is hopeless at cooking — he once set off the smoke alarm while making toast.

be hopeless at + noun/gerund

Léa tried to assemble the bookshelf herself, then realised she was hopeless with tools.

Common collocations
  • hopeless at
  • hopeless with
Synonyms
Antonyms
  • skilled

    having the ability to do something well

  • talented

    naturally good at something

Grammar Patterns

be + hopeless + at + noun/gerund

be + hopeless + with + noun

Usage Note

Typically followed by 'at' (hopeless at cooking) to specify an activity, or 'with' (hopeless with tools) to specify a category of things. NOT used before a noun to describe a person in this sense — 'a hopeless singer' could be read as sense 4 (extremely bad, dismissively).

Common Mistakes

I am hopeless in maths.
I am hopeless at maths.
the correct preposition is 'at', not 'in'.

3. So badly planned or designed that success is not possible; certain to result in

3.adjectiveB2
Definition

So badly planned or designed that success is not possible; certain to result in failure.

Example

The company's plan to attract customers without any advertising seemed hopeless from the start.

seemed hopeless — describing a doomed plan

Sana knew that cleaning the flooded basement with only a mop was a hopeless task.

Common collocations
  • hopeless task
  • hopeless cause
  • hopeless situation
  • hopeless effort
Synonyms
  • impossible

    stronger and more absolute

  • futile

    more formal, emphasising wasted effort

Antonyms

Grammar Patterns

seem/appear + hopeless

a + hopeless + noun (task/cause/effort)

Usage Note

Used for plans, tasks, efforts, and strategies — not for people or their emotions. Distinguish from sense 1, which describes a feeling or emotional state; sense 3 describes an objective assessment that something cannot succeed.

Common Mistakes

He felt hopeless about winning the match' (when describing a doomed effort, not an emotion).
His attempt to win the match was hopeless.
use sense 3 for the situation itself, not the person's feeling.

4. So poor in quality, behaviour, or condition that it seems impossible to improve

4.adjectiveB2
Definition

So poor in quality, behaviour, or condition that it seems impossible to improve or fix.

Example

The heating system in Tunde's apartment was hopeless — the radiators stayed cold all winter.

hopeless [noun] — describing a badly functioning system

Élise complained that the hotel's Wi-Fi was hopeless and kept disconnecting every few minutes.

Common collocations
  • hopeless service
  • hopeless Wi-Fi
  • hopeless system
  • hopeless mess
Synonyms
  • awful

    neutral register, equally common

  • terrible

    everyday word for very bad quality

  • atrocious

    stronger and more formal

Antonyms

Grammar Patterns

be + hopeless

a + hopeless + noun (service/system/handwriting)

Usage Note

Informal and emphatic — stronger than 'very bad'. Common in spoken English to criticise quality, service, or behaviour. Often used without a preposition: 'The Wi-Fi is hopeless' (not 'hopeless at' or 'hopeless with').

Common Mistakes

This restaurant's service is hopeless at.
This restaurant's service is hopeless.
no preposition needed when describing quality directly.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

Hopeless, despairing, despondent, and forlorn all describe a state of having no hope, but they differ in intensity and emphasis. Hopeless is the most common and general word, covering both a person's feeling ('She felt hopeless about her future') and a situation ('a hopeless case'). Despairing is more intense and emotional, tied to a specific moment: 'She cast a despairing look at the burning house.' Despondent describes a quieter, longer-lasting sadness with a sense of defeat, and is more common in formal writing: 'The team grew increasingly despondent after losing ten straight games.' Forlorn adds loneliness and abandonment: 'The forlorn dog sat by the empty gate all night.' Choose hopeless for everyday situations, despairing for a sharp emotional reaction, despondent for a sustained low mood, and forlorn to emphasise isolation.

despairingdespondentforlorn

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • feel hopeless
  • seem hopeless
  • look hopeless
  • appear hopeless

Prepositions

Etymology

Old EnglishEnglish

Hopeless was formed in English around the 1500s by adding the suffix -less ('without') to hope, which comes from the Old English word hopa, meaning a desire for something good to happen. The word originally described a person's feeling of having no hope, and later expanded to describe situations and quality.