despair
Syllables: des·pairUK/dɪˈspɛə(ɹ)//dɪˈspɛɚ/
despair verb: to give up as beyond hope or expectation; to despair of.
Verb
despair (third-person singular simple present despairs, present participle despairing, simple past and past participle despaired)
- To give up as beyond hope or expectation; to despair of.
- I would not despair the greatest design that could be attempted.1644, John Milton, Areopagitica; a Speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc’d Printing, to the Parlament of England, London: [s.n.], →OCLC
- I sometimes despair of getting anything quite simple and honest done in this world by the help of men.1854 August 9, Henry D[avid] Thoreau, “Economy”, in Walden; or, Life in the Woods, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC
- To cause to despair.
- Thinking of what I was despairing about despaired me further2019, Tim Dee, Landfill
- To be hopeless; to have no hope; to give up all hope or expectation.
- We despaired even of life.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 2 Corinthians 1:8
Noun
despair (countable and uncountable, plural despairs)
- Loss of hope; utter hopelessness; complete despondency.
- He turned around in despair, aware that he was not going to survive.
- My daughter's behavior drives me to despair.
- Synonyms:
- desperation, despondency, hopelessness, despond, unhope, wanhope
- That which causes despair.
- That which is despaired of.
despair meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
despair in Hindi
- loss of hope
- निराशा nirāśā, मायूसी māyūsī
despair in Tamil
- நம்பிக்கை இழப்பு, மனக் கசப்பு, மனத்தளர்ச்சி
despair in Urdu
- loss of hope
- یاس yās, مایُوسی māyūsī, نا اُمِّیدی nā ummīdī
despair in Bengali
- loss of hope
- নিরাশা niraśa
More languagesFewer languages
- despair in Telugu
- నిరాశ nirāśa
- despair in Malayalam
- നിരാശ, നിരാശപ്പെടുക
- despair in Kannada
- ಮುಂಗೆಡು, ಎದೆಗುಂದು, ನಂಬಿಕೆಯಳಿ, ನಿರಾಶನಾಗು
- despair in Sanskrit
- कातर kātara
- despair in Tagalog
- desperado, kawalang-pag-asa
- despair in Arabic
- يَئِسَ yaʔisa, يَأْس yaʔs
- despair in Indonesian
- berputus asa, putus asa
- despair in Thai
- ความสิ้นหวัง, สิ้นหวัง sîn-wǎng
- despair in Vietnamese
- sự tuyệt vọng
Examples of despair in a sentence
- The divalike guests drive the luxury resort's staff to growing despair.
- He was in a pit of despair.
- Look upon my works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Synonyms of despair
Antonyms
Forms of despair
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | despairs |
| present participle | despairing |
| past participle | despaired |
| past | despaired |
| Noun | |
| plural | despairs |
Origin of despair
From Middle English dispeir, from Anglo-Norman despeir and Old French desperer (from Latin dēspērō, dēspērāre), or desesperer, from des- (“dis-”) + esperer (“hope”). See also desperate. Displaced native Old English ormōdnes (“despair”) and Old English ortrīewan (“to despair”).
Words formed from despair
Phrases with despair
Words that rhyme with despair
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- declare
- hair
- Sinclair
- where
- ayr
- care
- layer
- mayor
- parterre
- fare
- glare
- lair
- pear
- prayer
- snare
- compare
- dare
- rare
- share
- swear
- ware
- wear and tear
- Ayer
- blare
- flair
- forbear
- Kerr
- laissez faire
- mousquetaire
- pare
- prepare
- repair
- stare
- unfair
- yare
- -ware
- abear
- aflare
- glair
- heir
- impair
- Pierre
- reair
- scare
- tare
- trillionaire
- Voltaire
- aware
Questions about despair
- What does despair mean?
- Despair means to give up as beyond hope or expectation; to despair of.
- What is despair in Hindi?
- Despair in Hindi is निराशा (nirāśā), मायूसी (māyūsī). See Despair meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is despair?
- Despair can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce despair?
- Despair is pronounced /dɪˈspɛə(ɹ)/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of despair?
- The past tense of despair is despaired.
Words near despair in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: despair (page history and authors); despair (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); despair (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); despair (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); कातर (Sanskrit) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-despair.ogg.
Cite this entry: “despair.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/despair. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.