Word.ws English Dictionary

despond

Syllables: de·spond/dɪˈspɒnd/

despond verb: to give up the will, courage, or spirit; to become dejected, lose heart.

Verb

despond (third-person singular simple present desponds, present participle desponding, simple past and past participle desponded)

  1. (intransitive) To give up the will, courage, or spirit; to become dejected, lose heart.
    • Yet still despond not, but proceed
      Along the path where fate may lead.1867, John Conington, Aeneid, translation of original by Virgil, page 176
    • October 16, 1820, Thomas Scott, letter to the Rev. G. Knight, Harwell
      I should despair, or at least despond.

Noun

despond (uncountable)

  1. (archaic) Despondency.

despond meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Malayalam and Kannada

despond in Tamil

மனம் தளர், மனங்குலை, சோர்வடை, நம்பிக்கை இழ

despond in Urdu

مایوس ہونا, ناامید ہونا

despond in Malayalam

ആശ വിടുക, നിരാശാഹൃദയനായിരിക്കുക, മനസ്സുതളരുക

despond in Kannada

ನಂಬಿಕೆಯಳಿ, ಎದೆಗುಂದು, ನಿರುತ್ಸಾಹನಾಗು, ವಿಷಣ್ಣನಾಗು, ನಿರಾಶನಾಗು

Synonyms of despond

All synonyms of despond

Forms of despond

third-person singular presentdesponds
present participledesponding
past participledesponded
pastdesponded

Origin of despond

From Latin dēspondeō (“give up, abandon”), from dē (“from”) + spondeō (“promise”).

Words formed from despond

Phrases with despond

Words that rhyme with despond

10 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about despond

What does despond mean?
Despond means to give up the will, courage, or spirit; to become dejected, lose heart.
What is despond in Tamil?
Despond in Tamil is மனம் தளர், மனங்குலை, சோர்வடை. See Despond meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is despond?
Despond can be a verb or a noun.
How do you pronounce despond?
Despond is pronounced /dɪˈspɒnd/.
What is the past tense of despond?
The past tense of despond is desponded.

Words near despond in the dictionary

  1. despoilments
  2. despoils
  3. Despoina
  4. despoliation
  5. despoliations
  6. despond
  7. desponded
  8. despondence
  9. despondences
  10. despondencies
  11. despondency

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: despond (page history and authors); despond (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); despond (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); despond (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); despond (Kannada Wiktionary) (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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-despond.wav.

Cite this entry: “despond.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/despond. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.