hopeless

I

(Roget's IV) modif.

1. [Despairing]

Syn. despondent, despairing, desperate, forlorn, disconsolate, depressed, dejected, melancholy, pessimistic, cynical; see also sad 1 .

2. [Discouraging]

Syn. futile, unfortunate, threatening, bad, sinister, unyielding, irrevocable, irredeemable, incurable, beyond recall, past hope, past cure, irretrievable, vain, unmitigable, irreversible, irreparable, irreclaimable, irrecoverable, cureless, without hope, with no hope, impracticable, ill-fated, disastrous, menacing, foreboding, unfavorable, dying, worsening, past recall, tragic, fatal, desperate, helpless, unavailing, lost, unreclaimable, to no avail, forlorn, remediless, relapsing, abandoned, gone, empty, idle, recidivous, valueless, incorrigible, useless, unserviceable, pointless, worthless, insurmountable; see futile 1 , impossible 1 .

Ant. favorable*, heartening, cheering.

Syn.- hopeless means having no expectation of, or showing no sign of, a favorable outcome [ a hopeless situation ] ; despondent implies a being in very low spirits because of a loss of hope and a sense of futility about continuing one's efforts [ her rejection of his proposal left him despondent] ; despairing implies utter loss of hope and may suggest the extreme dejection that results [ the despairing lover spoke of suicide ] ; desperate implies such despair as makes one resort to extreme measures [ hunger makes men desperate]

II

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus) a.

1. futile lost, desperate, irrevocable, bleak, discouraging, vain, foreboding, incurable, threatening, grave, unobtainable, impossible.

2. despairing desperate, demoralized, lost, disconsolate, miserable, heartbroken, depressed, suicidal, ' broken, dispirited.

ANT.: 1. hopeful, bright, promising. 2. hopeful, optimistic, confident, encouraged

III

(Roget's Thesaurus II) adjective 1. Having lost all hope: despairing, desperate, despondent, forlorn. See HOPE. 2. Offering no hope or expectation of improvement: cureless, incurable, irremediable, irreparable. See HOPE.