EN

Synonyms for hopelessness

  • noun

Most common

despair desperation despondency depression

All synonyms

Noun

1. Despair — A lack of hope. The state of having no hope, being unhopeful

despair, desperation, despondency, depression, pessimism

Antonyms

hope, hopefulness, optimism

All antonyms of hopelessness →

Definitions

  1. n. 1

    A lack of hope. The state of having no hope, being unhopeful.

Related words

Is a kind of
sadness

Forms

Plural
hopelessnesses → despairs, desperations, despondencies, depressions…

Choose the right word

Hopelessness, Discouragements, Despondency or Despair?

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.

J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)

Example sentences

  • depression The report states that there will be a depression.
  • despair Tom was in absolute despair when his dog ran away.
  • desperation The plumber looked with some desperation into it.

Popularity over time

Word1850 → 2019Trend
hopelessnessrising
depressionrising
despairrising
desperationrising
despondencysteady

Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.

By length

7 letters
despair2
9 letters
pessimism4
10 letters
depression3
11 letters
desperation4, despondency4

The small number after each word is its number of syllables (despair2 = 2 syllables).

In other languages

Français
désespérance