Despondence

//dɪˈspɒndəns// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The state of being downcast or despondent. countable, uncountable

    "When adverse winds and waves arise, And in my heart despondence sighs, .... Grateful I hear the kind decree That "as my day,—my strength shall be."—"

  2. 2
    feeling downcast and disheartened and hopeless wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
despondencydespondencydisconsolatenessdysthymiaheartsickness

Example

More examples

"When adverse winds and waves arise, And in my heart despondence sighs, .... Grateful I hear the kind decree That "as my day,—my strength shall be."—"

Etymology

From despond + -ence.

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