From hope + -less, compare Swedish hopplös.

• (RP) IPA: /ˈhəʊplɪs/
• (America) IPA: /ˈhoʊplɪs/

hopeless

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

     I am a woman, friendless, hopeless.

   • 1613–1614 (date written), John Fletcher, William Shak[e]speare, The Two Noble Kinsmen: […], London: […] Tho[mas] Cotes, for Iohn Waterson;  […], published 1634, →OCLC ↗, Act II, scene iii, page 31 ↗:

     And he a prince; To marry him is hopeleſſe;

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XV, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC ↗:

     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.

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.

   • 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:

     " 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.

• desperate
• unhopeful

• hopeful

• French: désespéré
• German: hoffnungslos
• Italian: disperato
• Portuguese: desesperado, desesperançado
• Russian: безнадёжный
• Spanish: desesperado