Despondency

//dɪˈspɒndənsi// noun

noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The loss of hope or confidence; despair or dejection. countable, uncountable

    "Not everyone succumbed to such nostalgia and despondency. Some saw the existential threat to Scots as a call to document what remained."

  2. 2
    feeling downcast and disheartened and hopeless wordnet
  3. 3
    A feeling of depression or disheartenment. countable, uncountable

    "He kissed her brow, and left her. She watched him unconsciously, till the winding walk hid him from her sight, and then sank back on her seat, every nerve relaxing from its high-strained excitement into utter and still despondency."

Synonyms

All synonyms
acediaapathyblank despondencybluenessbluescave of despair

Example

More examples

"Not everyone succumbed to such nostalgia and despondency. Some saw the existential threat to Scots as a call to document what remained."

Etymology

From Latin dēspondentia, from dēspondēns + -ia. Equivalent to despondent + -ency.

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