- past tense form of dishearten.
- past participle of dishearten.
disheartened
Americanadjective
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of disheartened
First recorded in 1610–20; dishearten ( def. ) + -ed 2 ( def. ) for the adjective; dishearten ( def. ) + -ed 1 ( def. ) for the verb
Explanation
When you're disheartened, you feel discouraged or let down. It's easy to become disheartened if the grades on your report card don't reflect the hard work and dedication you exerted. You might be disheartened to read about the high unemployment rate in the newspaper, or disheartened by the way your carefully constructed rocket ship cake flopped. When you feel your spirits sink or your courage fail, you're disheartened. The first recorded use of the word dishearten showed up in Shakespeare's play Henry V, where he invented it to mean the opposite of hearten, or "encourage."
Vocabulary lists containing disheartened
Tuck Everlasting
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The Cay
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The Wishing Spell
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
I am disheartened by the merely contemporary and hence indifferent to every fad.
From MarketWatch ● May 13, 2026
She says she "wasn't as persistent as I should have been" when it came to trying out for different roles and easily "got disheartened", thinking "maybe this isn't for me".
From BBC ● Mar. 13, 2026
The plant's owner insists it adheres to required emission thresholds, but the government's closure U-turn has left some locals disheartened.
From Barron's ● Feb. 18, 2026
He speculated that scholars and Americans in general were too disheartened by Vietnam to want to contemplate a traumatic rupture like the Civil War.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 12, 2026
I warned them against the dangers of being disheartened and insisted we were doing quite well.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
