Meaning
What does Hopeless romantic mean?
A hopeless romantic is the rarest of all personalities of our time.
These people are still believing and hoping in true love and still idealize the sentiment, despite all the evidence provided by science that is used to prove that love is just a natural instinct, implanted into us to find the most suitable mating partner and then reproduce.
Origin
What's the origin of Hopeless romantic?
The combination of the words “hopeless” and “romantic” most possibly originates from Marie Price La Touche’s novel, Lady Willoughby from 1855.
Following this, the term started to experience an upheaval in romantic novels of the early 20th century.
Hopeless romantics in these books always yearned and were looking for true love, falling for almost anyone and breaking their hearts repeatedly.
Spread & Usage
How did Hopeless romantic spread?
The expression has had a major influence on pop culture, with it being featured in the works of modern artists, like Rihanna or Meghan Trainor.
In modern context, we may find it on women’s websites and personality tests, where people are categorized as such. The expression has been present on Urban Dictionary since 2006 and possibly earlier.

External resources
- Goalcast – Here’s Why Being a Hopeless Romantic Is Actually a Very Good Thing
- Dictionary.com – What does hopeless romantic mean?