hopeless Syllabification: (hope·less)Pronunciation: /ˈhōplis/Translate hopeless | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish Definition of hopeless adjective 1feeling or causing despair about something:his situation was obviously hopeless Jessica looked at him in mute hopeless appeal 2inadequate; incompetent:I’m hopeless at namesDerivatives hopelessness noun hopeless in other Oxford dictionaries Definition of hopeless in the British & World English dictionary