different between woeful vs hopeless

English

Alternative forms

• (obsolete) woful, wofull

Etymology

From Middle English woful, waful, equivalent to woe +? -ful. Compare Old English w?l?? (“woeful”), Old English t?onful (“woeful”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?w??f?l/

Adjective

woeful (comparative woefuller, superlative woefullest)

1. Full of woe; sorrowful; distressed with grief or calamity.

   • How many woeful widows left to bow / To sad disgrace!

2. Bringing calamity, distress, or affliction.

   a woeful event

   a woeful lack of restraint

3. Lamentable, deplorable.
4. Wretched; paltry; poor.

Derived terms

• woefully
• woefulness

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:lamentable

English

Etymology

hope +? -less, compare Swedish hopplös.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?ho?pl?s/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?h??pl?s/
• Hyphenation: hope?less

Adjective

hopeless (comparative more hopeless, superlative most hopeless)

1. Without hope; despairing; not expecting anything positive.
2. Giving no ground of hope; promising nothing desirable; desperate.

3. Without talent, not skilled.

   He's a hopeless writer, but can draw very well.
4. (of an adverse condition) Incurable.

   She is a hopeless romantic.

   He is a hopeless idler.

Usage notes

• Nouns to which "hopeless" is often applied: case, situation, romantic, love, cause, person, despair, life, undertaking, alcoholic, man, endeavor, place, pain, agony, project.

Synonyms

• desperate
• unhopeful

Antonyms

• hopeful

Translations

References

• hopeless in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• hopeless in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• hopeless at OneLook Dictionary Search