self-despair

noun

Despair about oneself or one's own actions or behaviour.

First used 17th c.
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Meanings

nounself-despair (uncountable)
  1. uncountableDespair about oneself or one's own actions or behaviour.First known use 17th c.

    Tripping herself up with sadder and more and more neurotic acts of self-despair.

    2007, Alexander Theroux, chapter 45, in Laura Warholic
    1 more example

    Her flame […] soared after some illimitable satisfaction, which would reconcile self-despair with the rapturous consciousness of life beyond self.

    1872, George Eliot, Middlemarch, Prelude

Origin

From self- + despair.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

self-despair. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-despair

MLA

“self-despair.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-despair. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “self-despair,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-despair.

Source: self-despair on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.