despair

despair

English

Etymology

From Middle English dispeir, from Anglo-Norman despeir and Old French desperer (from Latin despero, desperare), or desesperer, from des- (“dis-”) + esperer (“hope”). See also desperate. Displaced native Old English ormōdnes (“despair”) and Old English ortrīewan (“to despair”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /dɪˈspɛə(ɹ)/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /dɪˈspɛəɹ/

• Audio (GA)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: des‧pair

Verb

despair (third-person singular simple present despairs, present participle despairing, simple past and past participle despaired)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To give up as beyond hope or expectation; to despair of.
   • 1644, John Milton, Areopagitica; a Speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc’d Printing, to the Parlament of England, London: [s.n.], OCLC 879551664:

     I would not despair the greatest design that could be attempted.

2. (transitive) To cause to despair.
   • 2019, Tim Dee, Landfill:

     Thinking of what I was despairing about despaired me further

3. (intransitive, often with “of”) To be hopeless; to have no hope; to give up all hope or expectation.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, 2 Corinthians 1:8:

     We despaired even of life.

Derived terms

• compare and despair

Translations

to despair of

Bulgarian: отча́йвам се impf (otčájvam se) Chinese: Mandarin: 絕望／绝望 (zh) (juéwàng) French: désespérer (fr) German: verzweifeln (de) Hebrew: התייאש‎ (hitya'ésh) Hungarian: csügged (hu), elcsügged (hu), kétségbeesik (hu) Ido: desesperar (io) Japanese: 絶望する (ja) (ぜつぼうする, zetsubō suru), 諦める (ja) (あきらめる, akirameru) Ladin: vester gram Latin: dēspērō (la) Macedonian: очајува (očajuva) Norwegian: fortvile over (no) Old English: ortrīewan Portuguese: desesperar-se (pt) Romanian: despera (ro) Russian: отча́иваться (ru) impf (otčáivatʹsja), отча́яться (ru) impf (otčájatʹsja) Spanish: desesperar (es) Swedish: förtvivla (sv), misströsta (sv) Tocharian B: si-n-

to cause to despair

Bulgarian: отчайвам (bg) (otčajvam) Georgian: სასოწარკვეთა (sasoc̣arḳveta) German: zur Verzweiflung bringen (de) Hebrew: ייאש‎ (yi'ésh) Hungarian: elcsüggeszt (hu) Ido: desesperigar (io) Portuguese: desesperar (pt)

to be hopeless

Arabic: يَئِسَ‎ (yaʾisa) Armenian: հուսահատվել (hy) (husahatvel) Bulgarian: губя надежда (gubja nadežda) Czech: zoufat Dutch: wanhopen (nl) Esperanto: malesperi (eo) Finnish: menettää toivonsa (fi), luopua toivosta (fi) French: désespérer (fr) Galician: desesperar (gl) German: verzweifeln (de), die Hoffnung aufgeben Greek: απελπίζομαι (el) (apelpízomai) Ancient: ἀπελπίζω (apelpízō), ἀθυμέω (athuméō) Icelandic: örvænta (is) Indonesian: berputus asa (id) Macedonian: очајува (očajuva) Maori: takarure Ngazidja Comorian: utsindza twamaa Old English: ortrīewan Norwegian: fortvile Polish: rozpaczać (pl) Portuguese: desesperar-se (pt) Romanian: despera (ro) Spanish: desesperanzar (es) (pronominal), desesperar (es) (intransitive, pronominal) Swahili: kukata tamaa Swedish: förtvivla (sv) Tagalog: desperado

Noun

despair (countable and uncountable, plural despairs)

1. Loss of hope; utter hopelessness; complete despondency.

   He turned around in despair, aware that he was not going to survive

2. That which causes despair.
3. That which is despaired of. (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Synonyms

• desperation
• despondency
• hopelessness

Antonyms

• hope
• respair

• climate despair
• death of despair
• disease of despair
• pit of despair

 

Translations

loss of hope

Arabic: يَأْس‎ (ar) (yaʾs) Aragonese: desaspero m Armenian: հուսահատություն (hy) (husahatutʿyun) Basque: etsipen Belarusian: ро́спач m (róspač) Bulgarian: отча́яние (bg) n (otčájanie) Catalan: desesperació Chinese: Mandarin: 絕望／绝望 (zh) (juéwàng) Czech: zoufalství n Danish: opgivelse Dutch: wanhoop (nl) c Esperanto: malespero (eo) Finnish: epätoivo (fi) French: désespoir (fr) m Georgian: უიმედობა (uimedoba), სასოწარკვეთილება (sasoc̣arḳvetileba) German: Verzweiflung (de) f, Hoffnungslosigkeit (de) Greek: απελπισία (el) f (apelpisía) Ancient: δυσθυμία f (dusthumía) Hebrew: יֵאוּשׁ \\ ייאוש‎ (he) m (ye'ush) Hindi: निराशा (hi) f (nirāśā), मायूसी (hi) f (māyūsī) Hungarian: kétségbeesés (hu), csüggedés Ido: desespero (io) Indonesian: putus asa (id) Irish: éadóchas Italian: disperazione (it) f Japanese: 絶望 (ja) (ぜつぼう, zetsubō), 失望 (ja) (しつぼう, shitsubō) Korean: 절망(絶望) (ko) (jeolmang) Latin: desperatio f Lithuanian: neviltis f Macedonian: очај m (očaj) Maori: rāwakiwaki, takaruretanga Norwegian: desperasjon m, håplosighet m or f Old English: ormōdnes f Persian: نومیدی‎ (fa) (novmidi) Polish: rozpacz (pl) f, beznadzieja (pl) f Portuguese: desespero (pt) m Romanian: desperare (ro) f Russian: отча́яние (ru) n (otčájanije), безнадёжность (ru) f (beznadjóžnostʹ), тлен (ru) m (tlen) (poetic) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: бѐзна̄ђе n, очаја́ње n Roman: bèznāđe (sh) n, očajánje (sh) n Slovak: zúfalstvo n Slovene: obup (sl) m Spanish: desesperación (es) f, desesperanza (es) f, desespero (es) m Swedish: desperation (sv) c, förtvivlan (sv) c, hopplöshet (sv) Tagalog: kawalang-pag-asa Tajik: ноумедӣ (noumedī) Telugu: నిరాశ (te) (nirāśa) Tocharian B: silñe Turkish: umutsuzluk (tr) Ukrainian: ві́дчай m (vídčaj), відча́й m (vidčáj), ро́зпач m (rózpač), розпу́ка f (rozpúka) West Frisian: wanhope n Yiddish: ייִאוש‎ m (yiesh)

Anagrams

• Piedras, aperids, aspired, diapers, praised, pre-AIDS