The building’s electrical system was completely inadequate.hopelesslyhope‧less‧ly /ˈhəʊpləsli $ ˈhoʊp-/ adverb 
We found ourselves hopelessly outnumbered by the enemy. She felt hopelessly confused. I was trying to find the museum, but I got hopelessly lost.2be/fall hopelessly in love (with somebody) to have or develop very strong feelings of love for someone3feeling that you have no hope: ‘When will I see you again?’ he asked hopelessly.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- "I feel like quitting," she said hopelessly.
- Sanders said that Congress was hopelessly out of touch with the needs of ordinary citizens.
- We're hopelessly behind schedule.
- After about twenty minutes, walking and fishing, she realised that she was hopelessly lost.
- And, unknown to her father, I fell hopelessly in love with her.
- From that moment, it was doomed to become a huge, sprawling, one-story conurbation, hopelessly dependent on the automobile.
- He loved a lifeless thing and he was utterly and hopelessly wretched.
- He shrugged again, smiling hopelessly.
- Many considered the Booker Washington area hopelessly blighted.
- Perhaps my notion of wilderness is romantic and hopelessly out of date, but I have to say that I find paragliding an intrusion.
- They went almost hopelessly into the great wilderness of trees where it seemed impossible to find anything.
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES The building’s electrical system was completely inadequate.
The building’s electrical system was completely inadequate.· In most cases judges are right, but in a few they are hopelessly wrong.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADJECTIVE· It had proved hopelessly inadequate during the revolution of 1905-6.· These students traverse course after remedial course, becoming increasingly turned off to writing, increasingly convinced that they are hopelessly inadequate.
VERB· It is not possible to be much more precise than this without becoming hopelessly entangled in a series of impossible dilemmas.· The result was that his daily arrangements became hopelessly dislocated.
· He was baffled by arithmetic and hopelessly confused by those twin horrors, history and geography.· In such a day, wars are usually the overt result of hopelessly confused covert causes.· She was hopelessly confused, not wanting to lose Georg, but at the same time obsessed with the pull of Gesner.
· She was falling hopelessly in love with the man.· If growth continued, the population and the water would fall hopelessly out of balance.· I was too afraid of falling hopelessly in love with this protégé of Yukio Mishima, whose marvellous homoerotic poems I translated.· And, unknown to her father, I fell hopelessly in love with her.· The independent ethic they had courted so successfully since their conception was beginning to fall hopelessly apart.
· By that time I was hopelessly lost and hopelessly bored.· I sensed that she loved her little girl a great deal but was feeling hopelessly lost about how to cope with her.· OnceI think it was in Munich; maybe Colognehe got hopelessly lost and needed to pull over to look at the map.
PHRASES FROM THE ENTRY
- And, unknown to her father, I fell hopelessly in love with her.
- I was too afraid of falling hopelessly in love with this protégé of Yukio Mishima, whose marvellous homoerotic poems I translated.
- James Pawsey, the Tory member for Rugby, also appeared to be hopelessly in love.
- She was falling hopelessly in love with the man.
WORD FAMILYnounhopehopefulness ≠ hopelessnesshopefuladjectivehopeful ≠ hopelessverbhopeadverbhopefully ≠ hopelessly
1used when emphasizing how bad a situation is, and saying that it will not get better: We found ourselves hopelessly outnumbered by the enemy. She felt hopelessly confused. I was trying to find the museum, but I got hopelessly lost.2be/fall hopelessly in love (with somebody) to have or develop very strong feelings of love for someone3feeling that you have no hope: ‘When will I see you again?’ he asked hopelessly.