Adjacent Words

Despair definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

DESPAIR, n.
1. Hopelessness; a hopeless state; a destitution of hope or expectation.
We are perplexed, but not in despair. 2 Corinthians 4.
All safety in despair of safety placed.
2. That which causes despair; that of which there is no hope.
The mere despair of surgery, he cures.
3. Loss of hope in the mercy of God.
DESPAIR, v.i. [L. To hope.] To be without hope; to hive up all hope or expectation; followed by of.
We despaired even of life. 2 Corinthians 1.
Never despair of Gods blessings here, or of his reward hereafter.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: 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" [syn: despair, desperation]
2: 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" [ant: hope] v
1: abandon hope; give up hope; lose heart; "Don't despair-- help is on the way!" [ant: hope]

Merriam Webster's

I. verb Etymology: Middle English despeiren, from Anglo-French desperer, from Latin desperare, from de- + sperare to hope; akin to Latin spes hope — more at speed Date: 14th century intransitive verb to lose all hope or confidence <despair of winning> transitive verb obsolete to lose hope for • despairer noun II. noun Date: 14th century 1. utter loss of hope <a cry of despair> <gave up in despair> 2. a cause of hopelessness <an incorrigible child is the despair of his parents>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. the complete loss or absence of hope. --v.intr. 1 (often foll. by of) lose or be without hope (despaired of ever seeing her again). 2 (foll. by of) lose hope about (his life is despaired of). Phrases and idioms: be the despair of be the cause of despair by badness or unapproachable excellence (he's the despair of his parents). Derivatives: despairingly adv. Etymology: ME f. OF desespeir, desperer f. L desperare (as DE-, sperare hope)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Despair De*spair", v. i. [imp. & p. p. Despaired; p. pr. & vb. n. Despairing.] [OE. despeiren, dispeiren, OF. desperer, fr. L. desperare; de- + sperare to hope; akin to spes hope, and perh. to spatium space, E. space, speed; cf. OF. espeir hope, F. espoir. Cf. Prosper, Desperate.] To be hopeless; to have no hope; to give up all hope or expectation; -- often with of. We despaired even of life. --2 Cor. i. 8. Never despair of God's blessings here. --Wake. Syn: See Despond.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Despair De*spair", v. t. 1. To give up as beyond hope or expectation; to despair of. [Obs.] I would not despair the greatest design that could be attempted. --Milton. 2. To cause to despair. [Obs.] --Sir W. Williams.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Despair De*spair", n. [Cf. OF. despoir, fr. desperer.] 1. Loss of hope; utter hopelessness; complete despondency. We in dark dreams are tossing to and fro, Pine with regret, or sicken with despair. --Keble. Before he [Bunyan] was ten, his sports were interrupted by fits of remorse and despair. --Macaulay.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(despairs, despairing, despaired) 1. Despair is the feeling that everything is wrong and that nothing will improve. I looked at my wife in despair... ...feelings of despair or inadequacy. N-UNCOUNT: also N in pl 2. If you despair, you feel that everything is wrong and that nothing will improve. 'Oh, I despair sometimes,' he says in mock sorrow... He does despair at much of the press criticism. VERB: V, V at n 3. If you despair of something, you feel that there is no hope that it will happen or improve. If you despair of someone, you feel that there is no hope that they will improve. He wished to earn a living through writing but despaired of doing so. VERB: V of -ing/n

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

de-spar': The substantive only in 2Co 4:8, "perplexed, but not in (the Revised Version (British and American) "yet not unto") despair," literally, "being at a loss, but not utterly at a loss." "Unto despair" here conveys the force of the Greek prefix ex ("utterly," "out and out"). Desperate, in Job 6:26; Isa 17:11. In the latter instance, the Hebrew adjective is derived from a verb = "to be sick," and the literally, rendering would be "incurable" (compare Job 34:6, "my wound is incurable"). Desperately in Jer 17:9 the King James Version, where the heart is said to be "desperately (i.e. incurably) wicked" or "sick."

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. n. Desperation, despondency, loss of hope, complete or utter hopelessness. II. v. n. Despond, lose all hope, give up all expectation, be without any hope.

Moby Thesaurus

Schmerz, Slough of Despond, abandon, abandon hope, acedia, aching heart, agony, agony of mind, anguish, apathy, bale, become suicidal, bitterness, blank despondency, bleeding heart, broken heart, cave of Trophonius, cave of despair, crushing, death wish, dejectedness, dejection, depression, depth of misery, desolation, despair of, desperateness, desperation, despond, despondency, despondentness, disconsolateness, discouragement, disheartenment, dispiritedness, distress, down trip, downcastness, downer, downheartedness, droop, drooping spirits, drop, extremity, falter, forlornness, give up, give up hope, give way, gloom, gloominess, grief, heartache, heartlessness, heavy heart, hit rock bottom, hopelessness, infelicity, languish, lose heart, lose hope, low spirits, lowness, lowness of spirit, malaise, melancholia, melancholy, miserableness, misery, no exit, no way, no way out, oppression, pessimism, plumb the depths, prostration, quit, reach the depths, relinquish, renounce, resign, resignation, sadness, self-destructive urge, sink, sink into despair, sinking heart, sloth, spiritlessness, suicidal despair, surrender, taedium vitae, touch bottom, weariness of life, woe, wretchedness, yield, yield to despair