hope ‧ less S3 /ˈhəʊpləs $ ˈhoʊp-/ BrE AmE adjective
[ Word Family: noun : ↑ hope , ↑ hopefulness ≠ ↑ hopelessness , ↑ hopeful ; verb : ↑ hope ; adverb : ↑ hopefully ≠ ↑ hopelessly ; adjective : ↑ hopeful ≠ ↑ hopeless ]
1 . if something that you try to do is hopeless, there is no possibility of it being successful:
We tried to stop the flames from spreading, but we knew it was hopeless.
Getting your work published often seems a hopeless task.
I kept on struggling forward, even though I knew it was hopeless.
2 . a hopeless situation is so bad that there is no chance of success or improvement:
The situation is not as hopeless as it might seem.
the millions who live in hopeless poverty
3 . especially British English informal very bad SYN terrible :
I’m a hopeless cook.
hopeless at (doing) something
My brother was always pretty hopeless at ball games.
hopeless with
I’m hopeless with machinery.
I’ve got a hopeless memory.
The public transport system was absolutely hopeless.
4 . feeling no hope:
I began to feel lonely and hopeless.
5 . used, often humorously, to say that someone’s bad behaviour cannot be changed:
Oh, James, you really are a hopeless case (=it seems impossible to change your behaviour) !
hopeless romantic/materialist/drunk etc
She was a hopeless romantic, always convinced that one day she would meet the man of her dreams.
—hopelessness noun [uncountable]