Hopelessly

How to spell hopelessly

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce hopelessly

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does hopelessly mean?

1. adverbIn a way that shows no hope of success, improvement, or change; or to a degree that seems impossible to remedy.

Hopelessly in a sentence

• The spreadsheet was hopelessly out of date by the time the meeting started.

• He stared hopelessly at the broken engine, unsure where to even begin.

Where does hopelessly come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This adverb is built on the native English noun and verb 'hope', which descends from Old English 'hopa' (the noun) and 'hopian' (the verb), meaning to wish or trust that something good will happen. These belong to a wider Germanic family, with related forms in Dutch ('hoop') and German ('hoffen'). The suffix '-less', from Old English 'leas' meaning 'free from' or 'without', was attached to make 'hopeless', literally 'without hope', a usage recorded from the 1500s. The further suffix '-ly', from Old English 'lice', turns the adjective into an adverb describing a manner or degree. The spelling is entirely transparent once you see the three pieces stacked together: keep the silent 'e' of 'hope', add '-less' with its double-ish s and single l, then add '-ly', and resist the urge to slip an extra 'e' in before the final '-ly'.

How the word is built

• hope (root: trust, expectation)
• -less (without)
• -ly (adverb suffix)