Despair

//dɪˈspɛə(ɹ)// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Loss of hope; utter hopelessness; complete despondency. countable, uncountable

    "He turned around in despair, aware that he was not going to survive."

  2. 2
    the feeling that everything is wrong and nothing will turn out well wordnet
  3. 3
    That which causes despair. countable, uncountable
  4. 4
    a state in which all hope is lost or absent wordnet
  5. 5
    That which is despaired of. countable, uncountable
Verb
  1. 1
    To give up as beyond hope or expectation; to despair of. obsolete, transitive

    "I would not despair the greatest design that could be attempted."

  2. 2
    abandon hope; give up hope; lose heart wordnet
  3. 3
    To cause to despair. transitive

    "Thinking of what I was despairing about despaired me further"

  4. 4
    To be hopeless; to have no hope; to give up all hope or expectation. intransitive

    "We despaired even of life."

Synonyms

All synonyms
desperationdesperationdespondencyhopelessnessabandonabandon hope

Example

More examples

"The leader gave up the plan in despair."

Etymology

From Middle English dispeir, from Anglo-Norman despeir and Old French desperer (from Latin dēspērō, dēspērāre), or desesperer, from des- (“dis-”) + esperer (“hope”). See also desperate. Displaced native Old English ormōdnes (“despair”) and Old English ortrīewan (“to despair”).

Related phrases

climate despaircompare and despaircounsel of despairdeath of despairdisease of despairpit of despairself-despairgive upsad emotion

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.