1
as in incurable
not capable of being cured or reformed
a hopeless optimist who looked for the good in everyone and everything was a hopeless romantic who never stopped looking for a soulmate
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in cynical
emphasizing or expecting the worst
the poor woman was feeling hopeless about ever finding her lost cat
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in impossible
incapable of being solved or accomplished
keeping this desk organized is hopeless
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4
as in desperate
feeling or showing no hope
the hopeless look on the faces of the fans as the other team scored again
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of hopeless
Felicity Thoughtful, impulsive, hopeless romantic whose hair choices overshadowed everything.
—
Lauren Brown West-Rosenthal, Parents, 19 Jan. 2026
Other people were staring at the ground, hopeless.
—Kristi Miller, Twin Cities, 13 Jan. 2026
The Knights could only manage a hopeless heave from well beyond halfcourt at the buzzer.
—Steve Millar, Chicago Tribune, 10 Jan. 2026
Produced by Feingold’s Romantical and distributed by Level33, the film follows Leo Kadner (Feingold), a hopeless romantic New Yorker who reconnects with his childhood crush Eva Shapiro (Sarah Coffey) while preparing for his 31-year-old Bar Mitzvah.
—Justin Kroll, Deadline, 9 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for hopeless
Lauren Brown West-Rosenthal, Parents, 19 Jan. 2026
Other people were staring at the ground, hopeless.
—Kristi Miller, Twin Cities, 13 Jan. 2026
The Knights could only manage a hopeless heave from well beyond halfcourt at the buzzer.
—Steve Millar, Chicago Tribune, 10 Jan. 2026
Produced by Feingold’s Romantical and distributed by Level33, the film follows Leo Kadner (Feingold), a hopeless romantic New Yorker who reconnects with his childhood crush Eva Shapiro (Sarah Coffey) while preparing for his 31-year-old Bar Mitzvah.
—Justin Kroll, Deadline, 9 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for hopeless
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hopeless
Adjective
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The case has deeply embarrassed the royal family, especially his mother, who suffers from an incurable lung illness and who is torn between her role as mother and future queen.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
10 Feb. 2026
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Authorities in Canada are weighing the case of Claire Brosseau, a 48-year-old woman with severe mental illness who hopes to secure medical help in ending her life but whose own psychiatrists are split over whether her illness is indeed incurable.—
Elizabeth Bruenig,
The Atlantic,
4 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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In his experiences and chronicles of the great ideological battles of the twentieth century, Curzio Malaparte was a shape-shifter—pitiless, clinical, cynical, unsentimental, indifferent to morality and idealism.—
Leah Downey,
The New York Review of Books,
7 Feb. 2026
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That didn’t happen, not least because of the cynical fecklessness of regional powers.—
Juan Pablo Spinetto,
Twin Cities,
1 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
When the sun moves away from the node, the season ends, and eclipses become impossible again.—
Jamie Carter,
Space.com,
13 Feb. 2026
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Word of mouth slowly led to the first Superblast being impossible to find after its introduction in 2022, and consumer appetite was fed with slight updates and greater stock on the Superblast 2 two years later.—
Ian Servantes,
Footwear News,
13 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
Leftists are desperate for martyrs.—
,
FOXNews.com,
6 Feb. 2026
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Five days into the desperate search for 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie, authorities have not identified any suspects or persons of interest, said Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
6 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
Demands for transparency are increasing because revelations about this despairing state of affairs will clarify precisely who is accountable.—
Azadeh Moaveni,
Time,
3 Feb. 2026
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Watching Melania fills you with a profound and despairing claustrophobia.—
Alexandra Petri,
The Atlantic,
31 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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Meanwhile, Nancy Guthrie's Arizona community gathered for a vigil Wednesday evening while the world can't look away from an incident that is deeply, horrifically sad and frightening.—
Nicole Fallert,
USA Today,
5 Feb. 2026
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The song is sophisticated and simple, sad and somehow triumphant.—
Jed Gottlieb,
Boston Herald,
5 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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Over the last several years, inflation, domestic conflict, economic uncertainty, and political upheaval have made many Americans feel more pessimistic about the future.—
Jake Angelo,
Fortune,
10 Feb. 2026
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Glaucon’s characterization anticipates the Hobbesian view of the world—pessimistic and fearful of what unsocialized humans in the state of nature can do to each other.—
Paul Rosenzweig,
Washington Post,
9 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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Many people have a profound attachment to suffering and staying in unhappy relationships and so a lot of my work is trying to figure out why.—
Daisy Jones,
Vogue,
10 Feb. 2026
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The day after the Super Bowl, some people are guaranteed to be unhappy.—
Mike Snider,
AZCentral.com,
9 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Hopeless.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hopeless. Accessed 16 Feb. 2026.
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