I. -dənt adjective
Etymology: Latin despondent-, despondens, present participle of despondēre
: feeling extreme discouragement, dejection, or depression : experiencing or expressing an all but complete loss of hope or sense of defeat
despondent about his health, he killed himself
Synonyms:
forlorn , hopeless , despairing , desperate : despondent indicates utter discouragement and suggests either mournful or sullen dejection
something dark and cold had settled over her thoughts. She could not shake it off though she told herself that it was unreasonable for her to feel so despondent — Ellen Glasgow
Twain was filled with a despondent desire, a momentary purpose even, to stop writing altogether — Van Wyck Brooks
forlorn connotes pitiful, hopeless dejection, often resulting from a betrayal, calamity, or bereavement
poor Columbine, forlorn and betrayed and dying, out in the cold at midnight — sinking down to hell, perhaps — was making her last frantic appeal — George du Maurier
suggested by the potrait of Beatrice Cenci; and, in fact, there was a look somewhat similar to poor Beatrice's forlorn gaze out of the dreary isolation and remoteness, in which a terrible doom had involved a tender soul — Nathaniel Hawthorne
Applied to actions or situations, it suggests a pathetic inadequacy certain of frustration or defeat
spoke … with a forlorn effort at dignity — Sinclair Lewis
hopeless suggests ending of hope and struggle and may imply dejection or resignation
the little hopeless community of beaten men and yellow defeated women — Sherwood Anderson
realizing now that pleading was useless, the men quieted down, and we resigned ourselves to the situation in that mood of hopeless apathy that comes over men powerless to help themselves — C.B.Nordhoff & J.N.Hall
Of actions, it indicates impossibility of success and makes no implication about the spirit of the actors
no body of men would stand against them, so hopeless was the enterprise — H.G.Wells
despairing may suggest a situation in which a last, wild, vain hope is harbored
tauntingly repelling the last despairing claim of a condemned culprit — H.T.Cockburn
the author of ‘Friendship's Garland’ ended with a despairing appeal to the democracy, when his jeremiads evoked no response from the upper class, whom he called barbarians, or from the middle class, whom he regarded as incurably vulgar — W.R.Inge
Applied to people, desperate describes conditions in which reasonable hope is gone, or reckless action is considered
now inhabited by a band of brigands, outlawed by government, strong in discipline, furious from penury, reckless by habit, desperate in circumstance — a crew which feared not God nor man nor devil — J.L.Motley
driven from their cabins and little holdings, their crops and cattle taken from them, they were everywhere around desperate with poverty, and discontented equally with their own landlords and the restraints put upon them by the government — Anthony Trollope
he felt desperate. He was ready to pay any price — Arnold Bennett
Used with situations, it indicates wild crucial importunateness and exigency
he is in a more desperate way financially than ever. He can borrow no more, and his debtors are clamoring — Gertrude Atherton
when a country is in desperate straits, and everything hangs on the issue of a single battle — W.H.Mallock
Of actions, it indicates motivation by despair
the king's desperate efforts could hardly save his army from utter rout — J.R.Green
such cries of terror and consternation on the part of the bird, tacking to the right and left, and making the most desperate efforts to escape — John Burroughs
II. noun
( -s )
: one who desponds