Synonyms for despair
- noun
- verb
Most common
All synonyms
Noun
1. Desperation — loss of hope; utter hopelessness; complete despondency
desperation, hopelessness, despondency, discouragement, despond dated
Verb
Definitions
- n. 1
Loss of hope; utter hopelessness; complete despondency.
My daughter's behavior drives me to despair.
- v. 1
To cause to despair.
Related words
- Word family
- despairful
- Phrases
- climate despair pit of despair
Forms
- Plural
- despairs → desperations, hopelessnesses, despondencies, discouragements…
- Past participle
- despaired
Choose the right word
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.
J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)
Example sentences
- desperation The plumber looked with some desperation into it.
- hopelessness It is with hopelessness that true optimism begins.
- discouragement What gives you strength in times of discouragement?
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| despair | rising | |
| desperation | rising | |
| hopelessness | rising | |
| discouragement | falling | |
| despondency | steady |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 7 letters
- despond
- 11 letters
- desperation4, despondency4
- 12 letters
- hopelessness3
- 14 letters
- discouragement4
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (desperation4 = 4 syllables).
In other languages
- Français
- désespoir
- Italiano
- disperazione
- Español
- desesperación
- Deutsch
- Verzweiflung
- Català
- desesperació