# despair

Pronunciation: say "di-SPAIR" US /dɪˈspɛɚ/, UK /dɪˈspɛə(ɹ)/

## Noun

1. The complete loss of hope; a state of utter hopelessness.
   - Simple: A feeling that there is no hope at all.
   - _Years of failed harvests drove many farmers to despair._
   - _A note of despair crept into his voice as the search dragged on._
3. A person or thing that causes despair or is regarded as hopeless.
   - Simple: A person or thing that seems hopeless or makes someone lose hope.
   - _With his endless excuses, the boy was the despair of every teacher he had._
   - _Crabgrass is the despair of every suburban gardener._

## Verb

2. To lose all hope, or give up expecting something, often with of.
   - Simple: To stop hoping and feel that nothing good will happen.
   - _Doctors had almost despaired of saving her when the fever finally broke._
   - _Many voters despair of ever seeing an honest government._

## Other meanings

- (verb) To make someone lose hope; to drive someone to despair.

## Origin

The Middle English form was dispeir. It came from Anglo-Norman despeir as well as Old French desperer (itself from Latin dēspērāre), or from desesperer, which joins des- ("dis-") and esperer ("hope"). Desperate is a related word. Despair took the place of two native Old English words, ormōdnes ("despair") and ortrīewan ("to despair").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/despair (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).