- downcast or disheartened; lacking hope or courage; dejected
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
de•spond•ent /dɪˈspɑndənt/USA pronunciation adj.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- greatly saddened and depressed:It's easy to get despondent when your plans go wrong.
de•spond•ent
(di spon′dənt),USA pronunciation adj.
de•spond′ent•ly, adv.
- feeling or showing profound hopelessness, dejection, discouragement, or gloom:despondent about failing health.
- Latin dēspondent- (stem of dēspondēns), present participle of dēspondēre. See despond, -ent
- 1690–1700
- disheartened, downhearted, melancholy, blue. See hopeless.
- happy, hopeful.
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
despondent /dɪˈspɒndənt/ adj
'despondent' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
dejected
- depressed
- fall
- heart
- heartsick
- blue
- brokenhearted
- Daedalion
- despondency
- downhearted
- droopy
- dysthymia
- gloom
- gloomy
- glum
- heavy
- hopeless
- melancholy
- quasi-despondent
- sad