despond

American  

[dih-spond, des-pond] / dɪˈspɒnd, ˈdɛs pɒnd /

verb (used without object)

1. to be depressed by loss of hope, confidence, or courage.

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noun

1. despondency.

despond British  

verb

1. (intr) to lose heart or hope; become disheartened; despair

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noun

1. archaic lack of hope; despondency

Other Word Forms

• desponder noun
• despondingly adverb
• undesponding adjective
• undespondingly adverb

Etymology

Origin of despond

1670–80; < Latin dēspondēre to give up, lose heart, promise, equivalent to dē- de- + spondēre to promise

Example Sentences

Pickett survived but fell into a slough of despond and vengefulness.

From Los Angeles Times

Lawrence started building “Phantasma Gloria” around the turn of the millennium, when he was “languishing in the sea of despond for the unmet yearning to create something new and beautiful in the world.”

From Los Angeles Times

By the time Max shows up at Sondheim’s Manhattan townhouse in Turtle Bay for a New Yorker profile, Sondheim, a reluctant interviewee, is fighting a “slough of creative despond.”

From Los Angeles Times

“The Unfolding” suggests no solutions to this plight, but it offers irresistible reflection on how the audacity of hope got pushed off the rails and fell into the slough of despond.

From Washington Post

Anything less, and it’s a descent into the slough of despond.

From The Guardian