Meanings
- not comparableFeeling, expressing, or caused by despair; hopeless.
He was beginning to forget his burdening, despairing mood of a short while ago.
1964, Philip K. Dick, “FOUR”, in Clans of the Alphane Moon, United States: Ace Books, →OCLC; republished London: HarperCollinsPublishers, 1996, →ISBN, page 39
- gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of despair
plural despairings
- A mood or display of despair.
But what things soever passed in him, when he ceased to see it; what ragings and despairings soever Teufelsdröckh's soul was the scene of, he has the goodness to conceal under a quite opaque cover of Silence.
1831, Thomas Carlyle, “Sorrows of Teufelsdröckh”, in Sartor Resartus: The Life and Opinions of Herr Teufelsdröckh. […], London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, 2nd book, page 103
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle Englishdespeyringe
- Englishdespairing
From Middle English despeyringe, equivalent to despair + -ing.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Esperanto malespera
- malesperaexpressing despair
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
despairing. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/despairing
“despairing.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/despairing. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “despairing,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/despairing.
Source: despairing on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.