despondent

[ dih-spon-duhnt ]

adjective

1. feeling or showing profound hopelessness, dejection, discouragement, or gloom:

   despondent about failing health.

   Synonyms: blue, melancholy, downhearted

   Antonyms: hopeful, happy

despondent

/ dɪˈspɒndənt /

adjective

1. downcast or disheartened; lacking hope or courage; dejected

Derived Forms

• deˈspondency, noun
• deˈspondently, adverb
• deˈspondence, noun

Other Words From

• de·spondent·ly adverb
• prede·spondent adjective
• quasi-de·spondent adjective
• quasi-de·spondent·ly adverb
• unde·spondent adjective
• unde·spondent·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of despondent¹

First recorded in 1690–1700; from Latin dēspondent-, stem of dēspondēns “giving up,” present participle of dēspondēre “to give up, lose heart, promise”; despond

Synonym Study

See hopeless.

Example Sentences

In the wake of Vice President Kamala Harris’s decisive loss left Democrats despondent, and locked in a cycle of finger-pointing.

From Slate

If I leaned forward—say, to put my head in my hands, the posture that felt correctly despondent—the strain from the back of my neck shot to the top of my skull.

From Slate

But he is “down most of the time” according to his mother, and despondent about the future and his chances of release.

From BBC

“I have to follow Mary?” she said, despondent.

From Los Angeles Times

For the first-person narrative, which follows Kline’s character on a mission to inflict pain on Catherine, the person he blames for his misfortunes — the loss of his family and a job that he’s grown increasingly despondent in — we see the world directly through his eyes, whether it’s a sandwich he eats in his increasingly filthy kitchen or the photographs he finds tucked in his dead wife’s purse, discovered under a wardrobe.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• dejected
• discouraged
• disheartened
• forlorn
• glum
• morose
• sad