Synonyms for despair
dɪˈspɛərde·spair

WiktionaryRate these synonyms:5.0 / 1 vote

1. despairnoun

   Synonyms:
   desperation, hopelessness, despondency

2. despairnoun

   To give up as beyond hope or expectation; to despair of.

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

   Synonyms:
   hopelessness, desperation, despondency

3. despairverb

   To cause to despair.

   Synonyms:
   despondency, desperation, hopelessness

English Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:4.0 / 3 votes

1. despair

   Discouragement is the result of so much repulse or failure as wears out courage. Discouragements too frequent and long continued may produce a settled hopelessness. Hopelessness is negative, and may result from simple apathy; despondency and despair are more emphatic and decided. Despondency is an incapacity for the present exercise of hope; despair is the utter abandonment of hope. Despondency relaxes energy and effort and is always attended with sadness or distress; despair may produce a stony calmness, or it may lead to desperation. Desperation is energized despair, vigorous in action, reckless of consequences.

   Synonyms:
   desperation, despondency, discouragement, hopelessness

   Antonyms:
   anticipation, assurance, cheer, confidence, courage, elation, encouragement, expectancy, expectation, hope, hopefulness, trust

Complete Dictionary of Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:4.3 / 3 votes

1. despairnoun

   Synonyms:
   hopelessness, despondency, desperation

   Antonyms:
   hopefulness, elation, anticipation, hilarity, confidence, sanguineness, expectation

2. despairverb

   Synonyms:
   despond, faint

   Antonyms:
   hope, trust, confide, rely, presume, rally

Princeton's WordNetRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. despair, desperationnoun

   a state in which all hope is lost or absent

   "in the depths of despair"; "they were rescued from despair at the last minute"; "courage born of desperation"

   Synonyms:
   desperation

   Antonyms:
   hope

2. despairverb

   the feeling that everything is wrong and nothing will turn out well

   "they moaned in despair and dismay"; "one harsh word would send her into the depths of despair"

   Synonyms:
   desperation

   Antonyms:
   hope

3. despairverb

   abandon hope; give up hope; lose heart

   "Don't despair--help is on the way!"

   Antonyms:
   hope

Matched Categories

1. • Condition

Editors ContributionRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. saddnessnoun

   utter loss of hope

   Submitted by Andrea_Dubois2085 on May 9, 2024  

Dictionary of English SynonymesRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. despairnoun

   Synonyms:
   desperation, loss of hope, complete or utter hopelessness

2. despairverb

   Synonyms:
   despond, lose all hope, give up all expectation, be without any hope

Synonyms, Antonyms & Associated WordsRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. despairnoun

   Synonyms:
   hopelessness, desperation, inconsolableness

PPDB, the paraphrase databaseRate these paraphrases:0.0 / 0 votes

1. List of paraphrases for "despair":

   desperation, hopelessness, distress, desolation, despondency, desperate

Suggested Resources

1. despair

   Song lyrics by despair -- Explore a large variety of song lyrics performed by despair on the Lyrics.com website.

How to pronounce despair?

How to say despair in sign language?

Words popularity by usage frequency

How to use despair in a sentence?

1. Elie Wiesel:

   Just as despair can come to one only from other human beings, hope, too, can be given to one only by other human beings.

2. President Barack Obama:

   Alternatively, fear can lead us to succumb to despair or paralysis or cynicism, fear can feed our most selfish impulses and erode the bonds of community.

3. Thresholds CEO Mark Ishaug:

   It's an example of goodness begetting more goodness, in this time of despair and this time of sadness and anxiety and frustration, we need more goodness. This is just one example of how we can take a really dark time and make it much brighter.

4. Francis Bacon:

   Believe not much them that seem to despise riches, for they despise them that despair of them.

5. William Blake:

   What seems to be, is, to those to whom it seems to be, and is productive of the most dreadful consequences to those to whom it seems to be, even of torments, despair, eternal death.