disheartening

American

[dis-hahr-tn-ing] / dɪsˈhɑr tn ɪŋ /

adjective

depressing a person’s hope, courage, or spirits; discouraging.

It's been disheartening to see some of her old habits and fears returning, even though they aren't as bad as when she was much younger.

Other Word Forms

dishearteningly

adverb

Etymology

Origin of disheartening

dishearten ( def. ) + -ing ² ( def. )

Explanation

Something disheartening causes you to lose your confidence or enthusiasm. It's disheartening when your basketball team loses four games in a row. Breaking disheartening down to its parts, you can see the dis- prefix, meaning "not" or "take away," and the figurative heart, "good feelings or courage." While a heartening message from your pen pal cheers you up, anything disheartening does the opposite. A disheartening grade on your big English paper brings you down, and disheartening news can make your whole family feel a little depressed. If it's disheartening, it's a bummer.

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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.

The most disheartening aspect of Mr. Pielke’s op-ed is that his peer-reviewed efforts to correct the record were met with silence.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 5, 2026

"Bangladesh has not been able to deliver a such a change… it is naturally disheartening to realise that we have not been able to organise and rebuild our country in the same way."

From BBC • Apr. 5, 2026

He’s 0-6 in the playoffs and the Chargers’ disheartening loss to the New England Patriots in the wild-card playoffs probably gave him plenty of reasons to think about his future.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 7, 2026

And it’s disheartening seeing news organizations scramble for coverage when they laid off international staff who could have been doing this work.

From Slate • Mar. 3, 2026

But the way she says it, it’s also disheartening.

From "Every Day" by David Levithan

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023