hopelessly
adverb
Simple meaning
In a dispirited way without hope.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
hohpluhsleeSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈhoʊpləsli
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adverb
In a dispirited manner without hope
Without hope; desperate because there seems no possibility of comfort or success
In a manner showing no hope
In a hopeless manner
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Primarily written
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: In a dispirited manner without hope
Used this way, hopelessly is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly warm, approving pull. It carries warmth, so it reads as personal rather than detached.
- Emotional tone
- Positive
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Hopeful and forward-looking
- Usage feel
- Warm and expressive
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use hopelessly
- “The papers were hopelessly jumbled.”adverb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Without hope because there seems to be no possibility of comfort or success.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
The despair you feel when you have abandoned hope of comfort or success.
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