Meanings
adjectivedespondent (comparative more despondent, superlative most despondent)
comparative more despondent · superlative most despondent
- In low spirits from loss of hope or courage.
“Last year, I was despondent that it was so hard to dislodge the iron grip of Google,” said Sridhar Ramaswamy, who previously oversaw advertising for Google, including Search ads, and now runs Neeva. “But technological moments like this create an opportunity for more competition.”
2022 December 21, Nico Grant, Cade Metz, quoting Sridhar Ramaswamy, “A New Chat Bot Is a ‘Code Red’ for Google’s Search Business”, in The New York Times, →ISSN1 more example
Thanks to that penny he had just spent so recklessly [on a newspaper] he would pass a happy hour, taken, for once, out of his anxious, despondent, miserable self. It irritated him shrewdly to know that these moments of respite from carking care would not be shared with his poor wife, with careworn, troubled Ellen.
1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter I, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], →OCLC, page 0056Synonyms: atrabiliary, atrabilious, blitheless, dispirited, blue, bummed out, chapfallen, cheerless
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveIn low spirits from loss of hope or courage.
More synonyms by meaning
Also see
blithelessbluebummed outchapfallencheerlesscrestfallencut updejecteddepresseddesolatedisconsolatedismaldolesomedowndowncastdownhearteddown in the dumpsdown in the mouthdownsomedullelegiacforlorngrief-strickenheartsickheartsoreheavy-heartedhopelessinconsolablejawfallenlachrymoselamentfullowlow-spiritedlumpishmelancholicmelancholymiserablemoodymournfulruthfulsadsaturnineshatteredsombresorrowfulsorrow-riddensorrowsomesorrytearfulthreneticthreneticaltristetristfuluncheerfuluncheeryunhappywistfulwoewoebegonewoeful
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latindēspondēns
- Englishdespondent
From Latin dēspondēns, from the verb despondere (“to give up, to abandon”).
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek ἄθυμος, δύσθυμος
- ἄθυμος (áthumos)in low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- δύσθυμος (dústhumos)in low spirits from loss of hope or courage
Arabic قَانِط, أَسْوَان
- قَانِط (qāniṭ)in low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- أَسْوَان (ʔaswān)in low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- بَائِس (bāʔis)in low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- حَزِين (ḥazīn)in low spirits from loss of hope or courage
Bulgarian загубил надежда, паднал духом
- загубил надежда (zagubil nadežda)in low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- паднал духом (padnal duhom)in low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- унил (unil)in low spirits from loss of hope or courage
Catalan abatut, descoratjat
- abatutin low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- descoratjatin low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- desanimatin low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- desesperançatin low spirits from loss of hope or courage
Chinese Mandarin 懊喪 /懊丧, 抑鬱 /抑郁
- 懊喪 /懊丧 (àosàng)in low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- 抑鬱 /抑郁 (yìyù)in low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- 氣餒 /气馁 (qìněi)in low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- 灰心 (huīxīn)in low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- 沮喪 /沮丧 (jǔsàng)in low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- 哀傷 /哀伤 (āishāng)in low spirits from loss of hope or courage
Czech sklíčený, zoufalý
- sklíčenýin low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- zoufalýin low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- malomyslnýin low spirits from loss of hope or courage
Danish knuget, forknyt
- knugetin low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- forknytin low spirits from loss of hope or courage
Dutch moedeloos, wanhopig
- moedeloosin low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- wanhopigin low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- terneergeslagenin low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- hopeloosin low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- mismoedigin low spirits from loss of hope or courage
Finnish epätoivoinen, toivoton
- epätoivoinenin low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- toivotonin low spirits from loss of hope or courage
French déprimé, abattu
- dépriméin low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- abattuin low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- découragéin low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- tristein low spirits from loss of hope or courage
German mutlos, niedergeschlagen
- mutlosin low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- niedergeschlagenin low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- deprimiertin low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- entmutigtin low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- traurigin low spirits from loss of hope or courage
Greek άθυμος
- άθυμος (áthymos)in low spirits from loss of hope or courage
Hebrew מיואש
- מיואש (meyu'ásh)in low spirits from loss of hope or courage
Hungarian lehangolt
- lehangoltin low spirits from loss of hope or courage
Icelandic krumpinn
- krumpinnin low spirits from loss of hope or courage
Italian abbattuto, scoraggiato
- abbattutoin low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- scoraggiatoin low spirits from loss of hope or courage
Japanese 落胆した, 失意の
- 落胆した (rakutan-shita)in low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- 失意の (shitsui-no)in low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- 消然 (shōzen)in low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- 悲しい (kanashii)in low spirits from loss of hope or courage
Māori hākerekere, tapou
- hākerekerein low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- tapouin low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- tāmatein low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- parakorein low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- ngākau pōuriin low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- mārohirohiin low spirits from loss of hope or courage
Norwegian Bokmål motløs, nedtrykt
- motløsin low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- nedtryktin low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- forknyttin low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- knugetin low spirits from loss of hope or courage
Portuguese abatido, desencorajado
- abatidoin low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- desencorajadoin low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- desanimadoin low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- desacorçoadoin low spirits from loss of hope or courage
Russian уны́лый, пода́вленный
- уны́лый (unýlyj)in low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- пода́вленный (podávlennyj)in low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- мра́чный (mráčnyj)in low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- удручённый (udručónnyj)in low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- угнетённый (ugnetjónnyj)in low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- гру́стный (grústnyj)in low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- печа́льный (pečálʹnyj)in low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- па́вший ду́хом (pávšij dúxom)in low spirits from loss of hope or courage
Spanish abatido, descorazonado
- abatidoin low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- descorazonadoin low spirits from loss of hope or courage
Swedish missmodig, modfälld
- missmodigin low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- modfälldin low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- nedslagenin low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- nedstämdin low spirits from loss of hope or courage
Thai ท้อ, ท้อแท้
- ท้อ (tɔ́ɔ)in low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- ท้อแท้in low spirits from loss of hope or courage
Ukrainian зневірений, пригнічений
- зневірений (znevirenyj)in low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- пригнічений (pryhničenyj)in low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- засмучений (zasmučenyj)in low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- занепалий духом (zanepalyj duxom)in low spirits from loss of hope or courage
Vietnamese chán nản
- chán nảnin low spirits from loss of hope or courage
Welsh digalon, pendrwm
- digalonin low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- pendrwmin low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- peniselin low spirits from loss of hope or courage
- pendristin low spirits from loss of hope or courage
Cite this entry
APA
despondent. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/despondent
MLA
“despondent.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/despondent. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “despondent,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/despondent.
Source: despondent on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.