hopelessとは

意味・読み方・使い方

発音

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈhoʊplɪs/
• (Received 発音) IPA^(key): /ˈhəʊplɪs/
• ハイフネーション: hope‧less

形容詞

hopeless (comparative more hopeless, superlative most hopeless)

1. Without hope; despairing; not expecting anything positive.
   • 1613, William Shakespeare; [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene i]:

     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.

   • 1966, James Workman, The Mad Emperor, Melbourne, Sydney: Scripts, page 41:

     A gaoler struck him, pushing him back in place in the hopeless, helpless line of prisoners.

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.

   • 1926, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Land of Mist‎^[1]:

     " It is a pure waste of time." "Not at all," Malone answered. "It has ventilated an evil. There were reporters in court. Surely some of them have some sense. They will note the injustice." "Not they," said Mailey. "The Press is hopeless. My God, what a responsibility these people take on themselves, and how little they guess the price that each will pay! I know."

4. (of an adverse condition) Incurable.

   She is a hopeless romantic.

   He is a hopeless idler.

使用する際の注意点

• Nouns to which "hopeless" is often applied: case, situation, romantic, love, cause, person, despair, life, undertaking, alcoholic, man, endeavor, place, pain, agony, project.

同意語

• desperate
• unhopeful

反意語

• hopeful