- present participle of dishearten.
disheartening
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of disheartening
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.
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.
"It is disheartening to see news channels," said Sukhjeet Narula, 28, a software professional.
From Barron's ● Aug. 6, 2026
“That’s really kind of disheartening — that we’ve tried our best to mitigate fires ... yet fires are destroying more homes,” said Amanda Carlson, a research scientist with the U.S.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2026
After decades of looking forward to the freedom of a less stressful lifestyle, it is disheartening to be faced with difficult choices when income and savings fall short.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 29, 2026
We’ll see several startling upsets in this round that won’t end up mattering, along with a disheartening number of 0-0 and 1-1 draws.
From Salon ● Jun. 11, 2026
The bleak line of shore surrounding the gray harbor was a disheartening contrast to the shimmering green and white that fringed the turquoise bay of Barbados which was her home.
From "The Witch of Blackbird Pond" by Elizabeth George Speare
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.
