Showing results for "disheartening"

• present participle of dishearten.

disheartening

American  

[dis-hahr-tn-ing] / dɪsˈhɑr tn ɪŋ /

adjective

1. 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.

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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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

disheartening

She wants the administration to admit what she sees as its mistakes, calling the lack of transparency disheartening.

From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026

What we found was disheartening but also motivating.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026

“To turn on the TV, to see that environment in Los Angeles, that’s disheartening to see,” Lupoi said in Berkeley.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026

What was really disheartening was the fact that day in and day out, they weren’t on the battlefield.

From Slate ● Aug. 22, 2026

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

From "Every Day" by David Levithan

Related Words

• alarming
• astounding
• awful
• dire
• dreadful
• frightening
• frightful
• ghastly
• harrowing
• hideous
• horrible
• horrific
• shocking
• terrible
• terrifying