despair
verb · noun
Simple meaning
To be hopeless.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
dihspehrSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
dɪsˈpɛɹ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
intransitive
To be hopeless; to have no hope; to give up all hope or expectation. [(often) with of]
transitive
To cause to despair.
Abandon hope; give up hope; lose heart
“Don't despair--help is on the way!”
noun
That which is despaired of.
A state in which all hope is lost or absent
Loss of hope; utter hopelessness; complete despondency.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Formality
- Technical
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To be hopeless; to have no hope; to give up all hope or expectation. [(often) with of]
Used this way, despair is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly warm, approving pull. It carries warmth, so it reads as personal rather than detached.
- Emotional tone
- Positive
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Hopeful and forward-looking
- Usage feel
- Warm and expressive
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use despair
- “Don't despair--help is on the way!”verb
- “They moaned in despair and dismay.”noun
- “In the depths of despair.”noun
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More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: that which is despaired of
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.