despond

[dih-spond, des-pond]

verb (used without object)

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

noun

1. despondency.

despond

verb

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

noun

1. archaic,  lack of hope; despondency

Other Word Forms

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of despond¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of despond¹

C17: from Latin dēspondēre to promise, make over to, yield, lose heart, from _de- + spondēre to promise

Example Sentences

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

Read more on 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.”

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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.”

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“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.

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

Read more on The Guardian