no-hoper

noun

Someone or something that has no hope of success.

OriginEnglish hope ← Middle English hope ← Old English hopa →
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Meanings

nounno-hoper (plural no-hopers)

plural no-hopers

  1. Someone or something that has no hope of success.

    "Brain-dead kids. Born losers. No-hopers the lot of 'em. I mean, as a taxpayer, what do they effin' teach 'em in school these days? I ask you!"

    2016, Jack Chapman, Prodigal Son
    2 more examples

    Francis Urquhart: Six days to the first ballot. Who are we up against? Tim Stamper: Mackenzie, Earle, Woolton, Samuels, and three no-hopers: Bairsted, Llewellyn-Jones-Rhys, and Bogg.

    1990, House of Cards, season 1, episode 4

    After 12 successive league wins[…]Charlton were nobbled by the First Division's no-hopers, who profited from a goalkeeping bloomer then held on to their lead for dear life.

    2000 March 12, Stuart Barnes, “Swindon stunner for Curbishley”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

Origin

  1. Englishno
  2. Proto-West Germanic*tōhopōn
  3. Old Englishtōhopa
  4. Old Englishhopa
  5. Middle Englishhope
  6. Englishhope
  7. Englishno-hoper

From no + hope + -er.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Dutch kansloze, hopeloos geval
  • kanslozesomeone without hope of success
  • hopeloos gevalsomeone without hope of success
  • hopeloze zaaksomething without hope of success
  • hopeloos gevalsomething without hope of success
Cite this entry
APA

no-hoper. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/no-hoper

MLA

“no-hoper.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/no-hoper. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “no-hoper,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/no-hoper.

Source: no-hoper on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.