hopelessness

C2+ Topic:Emotions & Feelings

US /ˈhoʊpləsnəs/ UK /ˈhəʊpləsnəs/ See IPA manual

noun

Meanings

1

noun
the feeling or state of having no hope; despair

A grim hopelessness settled over the besieged town.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · the feeling or state of... despair despondency desperation dejection gloom pessimism

Opposites

hope optimism hopefulness confidence

Word family

Related forms hopeless hope hopefully

Etymology

From hopeless + -ness; hope descends from Old English hopa ('expectation, hope'), from Proto-Germanic *hupōną.

hopa Old English *hupōną Proto-Germanic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Emotions & Feelings Word Formation & Derivatives

# hopelessness

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** ˈhoʊpləsnəs
**IPA (UK):** ˈhəʊpləsnəs

## Meanings
1. the feeling or state of having no hope; despair

## Examples
- A grim hopelessness settled over the besieged town.

## Synonyms
- despair
- despondency
- desperation
- dejection
- gloom
- pessimism

## Antonyms
- hope
- optimism
- hopefulness
- confidence

## Related Forms
- hopeless
- hope
- hopefully

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: hopa
- Root: *hupōną

## Etymology
From hopeless + -ness; hope descends from Old English hopa ('expectation, hope'), from Proto-Germanic *hupōną.

## AI Etymology
Hopelessness comes from hopeless + -ness; hope descends from Old English hopa ('expectation, hope'), from Proto-Germanic *hupōną. The etymological trail includes Old English hopa and Proto-Germanic *hupōną. As a noun, hopelessness names the feeling or state of having no hope; despair. The same family is visible in related forms such as hopeless, hope, and hopefully. The analysis is partly morphological, with the modern form built from the elements named in the history.

## Topics
- Emotions & Feelings
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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hopelessness

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