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despondent

American  
[dih-spon-duhnt] / dɪˈspɒn dənt /

adjective

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

    despondent about failing health.
    Synonyms:
    blue, melancholy, downhearted
    Antonyms:
    hopeful, happy
despondent British  
/ dɪˈspɒndənt /

adjective

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

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Related Words

See hopeless.

Other Word Forms

  • despondence noun
  • despondency noun
  • despondently adverb
  • predespondent adjective
  • quasi-despondent adjective
  • quasi-despondently adverb
  • undespondent adjective
  • undespondently adverb

Etymology

Origin of despondent

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

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.