How to Use despair in a Sentence

despair

1 of 2 noun

• The people were driven to despair by the horrors of war.
• This latest setback has brought her to the depths of despair.
• I was overcome by despair at being unable to find them.
• His despair nearly drove him mad.
• She finally gave up in despair.
• On the occasion of Johnson's tercentenary, Martin ({it}A Life of James Boswell{/it}) searches out the psychological elements covered up by Boswell and others: the immense insecurities, bouts of deep depression, corrosive self-doubt and, in his last days, despair for his very soul.
  — Publishers Weekly, 21 July 2008
• Huston heaves with a despair that the movies rarely show us.
  — New York Times, 8 Feb. 2022
• Adults hit that note of despair only when the pain is too much to bear.
  — Jeneé Osterheldt, kansascity, 14 Feb. 2018
• In some passages, despair just about wafts off the page.
  — Peter C. Baker, The New York Review of Books, 23 Feb. 2021
• Of course, a bubonic plague just had to break out, and pile on the despair.
  — Tribune News Service, cleveland, 14 Feb. 2022
• In the midst of despair, every good thing is all the more precious.
  — Joan Gaylord, The Christian Science Monitor, 19 Jan. 2021
• The despair that rushed over Will quickly turned to anger.
  — Washington Post, 7 Dec. 2020
• And a quarter of those kids on my old school bus are now gone from deaths of despair.
  — Lacy Scarmana, CBS News, 22 Jan. 2020
• That was before the despair consumed it all, of course.
  — Luke Kerr-Dineen, For The Win, 11 Sep. 2017
• Which means that having the courage to despair means there is always hope.
  — Tina Isaac-Goizé, Vogue, 7 May 2021
• Nothing can throw you into a pit of despair quite the same way a bad breakup can.
  — Andra Chantim, Good Housekeeping, 31 July 2019
• Grief can run the gamut from frequent tears to utter despair.
  — Brian Melley, BostonGlobe.com, 10 Oct. 2022
• Many of these debtors despair of ever paying the huge sums back.
  — Victor Davis Hanson, The Mercury News, 30 Aug. 2019
• On one side of that edge was beauty, and on the other side of that edge was despair.
  — Kelly Sundberg, Good Housekeeping, 1 June 2018
• No wonder my dreams keep me in a captive state of despair.
  — Michael Bociurkiw, CNN, 10 Mar. 2022
• But along with despair, there is the drive to make a difference back home.
  — CBS News, 1 Oct. 2021
• Is that worth putting up with a new layer of dongle despair?
  — Chaim Gartenberg, The Verge, 31 Oct. 2018
• To do so may dredge up our own shame and guilt along with anxiety and despair.
  — Rhonda Garelick, The Cut, 11 July 2018
• Five years is a long commitment to make in a moment of despair.
  — Anne Cohen, refinery29.com, 17 Aug. 2020
• This is a war film dotted with heroism but dunked in despair.
  — Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 18 Apr. 2023
• What the public saw was pink and, in many cases, despair.
  — Dewayne Bevil, orlandosentinel.com, 24 Feb. 2021
• Look upon its eye and despair, for there is a new red ring of death to contend with.
  — Hayden Dingman, PCWorld, 1 Nov. 2019
• Little is said, but the weight of war and despair is palpable.
  — Keith Nelson, Men's Health, 27 July 2023
• But don’t despair, there’s still a lot of help available.
  — Washington Post, 3 Aug. 2021
• Retail blocks were bustling, but pockets of despair were not hard to find.
  — Hazem Balousha, Washington Post, 8 Aug. 2022

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despair

2 of 2 verb

• Things look bad now, but don't despair.
• Guatemalans who yearn for the rule of law are despairing.
  — The Economist, 22 June 2019
• No one despairs over setbacks and soars with good news.
  — Chicago Tribune, chicagotribune.com, 1 June 2017
• Many despaired, saying the change had left them depressed and adrift.
  — Miles Klee, Rolling Stone, 17 May 2023
• When the air gets down near zero, parts fail and people despair.
  — Steve Hendrix, Washington Post, 4 Jan. 2018
• So don't despair if Champagne is hard to come by this year.
  — Jeanne O'Brien Coffey, Forbes, 23 Dec. 2021
• If your mood is just as dark, don’t despair: The sun will soon shine.
  — Tribune Content Agency, oregonlive, 16 Oct. 2020
• As time went on, the couple despaired of events in Russia.
  — Sophia Kishkovsky, New York Times, 8 June 2018
• Harry is drunk, despairing, lovesick and lost down blind alleys much of the time.
  — Scott Timberg, latimes.com, 10 July 2019
• But don't despair if the weather isn't working in your favor.
  — Leigh Morgan, AL.com, 30 Jan. 2018
• There is no need to despair if the videoconferencing wanes.
  — Maria Shine Stewart, cleveland, 7 Sep. 2020
• What despairs us is knowing that the slightest breeze will leave us without power.
  — Danica Coto, The Denver Post, 27 Aug. 2019
• Don't despair, left-handers who have just smeared the ink across your paper yet again.
  — Elizabeth Preston, Discover Magazine, 31 Oct. 2013
• The Vikings and their fans should not despair, even after the misery of Monday night.
  — Bob Sansevere, Twin Cities, 23 Dec. 2019
• But if yours leak butter or the dough becomes sticky and unworkable, do not despair.
  — Tribune News Service, cleveland, 11 Sep. 2020
• If you’ve been left in a gaping void by the end of Succession, don’t despair.
  — Etan Vlessing, The Hollywood Reporter, 10 June 2023
• Alone and unable to work, Boylan despaired and made plans for suicide.
  — David Armstrong, ProPublica, 23 Aug. 2019
• Do not despair, though, because the palace has been in formal contact with Tanna in the past.
  — Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 9 Apr. 2021
• But don’t despair and stare up into the stars feeling defeated.
  — oregonlive, 4 Dec. 2020
• Musicians may despair and sell their services for less.
  — Ernesto Lechner, Los Angeles Times, 15 Apr. 2020
• In other words, those still seeking a unicorn shouldn’t despair.
  — S.l. Price, SI.com, 8 Sep. 2017
• For those with a bad case of Chionophobia — a fear of snow, do not despair, for spring is near.
  — Kevin Dayhoff, Baltimore Sun, 10 Mar. 2023
• The man who once took pride in being fit long after his college football career now despairs of getting his health back.
  — Amy Ellis Nutt, Washington Post, 30 Mar. 2018
• Other politicians despair at the dynastic state of affairs.
  — Olivia Goldhill, Quartz, 13 July 2019
• Don’t despair; there are, in fact, Orlando arts events on the horizon.
  — Matthew J. Palm, orlandosentinel.com, 5 Aug. 2020
• This is a good policy, but for those of us who already bought elaborate cards, there's no need to despair.
  — Eleanor Cummins, Popular Science, 24 Dec. 2020
• In the downbeat, despairing worlds of both these thrillers, this upbeat, inspiring theme shines.
  — Gerald Bartell, Washington Post, 9 Oct. 2019
• Still, viewers who come to Netflix for the kind of movies and shows that win awards and top critics’ best-of lists shouldn’t despair yet.
  — Time, 3 Jan. 2020
• Most had despaired of finding a liberal with backbone or a conservative with a heart.
  — Larry Tye, BostonGlobe.com, 29 May 2018
• Viewers who love Susan Boyle shouldn't despair too much.
  — Kayla Keegan, Good Housekeeping, 19 Feb. 2019

Last Updated: 27 Mar 2024