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

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.

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How to use despair in a sentence?

1. Anne Frank:

   They mustn't know my despair, I can't let them see the wounds which they have caused, I couldn't bear their sympathy and their kind-hearted jokes, it would only make me want to scream all the more. If I talk, everyone thinks I'm showing off; when I'm silent they think I'm ridiculous; rude if I answer, sly if I get a good idea, lazy if I'm tired, selfish if I eat a mouthful more than I should, stupid, cowardly, crafty, etc. etc.

2. President Barack Obama:

   I've heard people say, 'The Supreme Court struck down the clean power plant rule.' That's not true. So don't despair, people.

3. Alexis karpouzos:

   Mountains fall and seas divide and impossible things may seem but where there’s despair there is and faith and where there’s sadness the consolation is near. Every breath is a chance to reborn, but to be reborn you have to die before dying.

4. J. Michael Straczynski, Babylon 5 (Television Series):

   There is a greater darkness than the one we fight. It is the darkness of the soul that has lost its way. The war we fight is not against powers and principalities, it is against chaos and despair. Greater than the death of flesh is the death of hope. The death of dreams. Against this peril we can never surrender.

5. Calaneet Balas:

   There has been such a sense of despair, they haven’t had anything for so long. Now, they’re trying to get their arms around what’s going on.