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
• Of course, a bubonic plague just had to break out, and pile on the despair.
  — Tribune News Service, cleveland, 14 Feb. 2022
• The despair that rushed over Will quickly turned to anger.
  — Washington Post, 7 Dec. 2020
• Adults hit that note of despair only when the pain is too much to bear.
  — Jeneé Osterheldt, kansascity, 14 Feb. 2018
• Huston heaves with a despair that the movies rarely show us.
  — New York Times, 8 Feb. 2022
• In the midst of despair, every good thing is all the more precious.
  — Joan Gaylord, The Christian Science Monitor, 19 Jan. 2021
• In some passages, despair just about wafts off the page.
  — Peter C. Baker, The New York Review of Books, 23 Feb. 2021
• But then, there’s the free will part: What is your response to that despair?
  — Joe Fassler, The Atlantic, 20 Dec. 2017
• That was before the despair consumed it all, of course.
  — Luke Kerr-Dineen, For The Win, 11 Sep. 2017
• 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
• 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
• But don’t despair, there’s still a lot of help available.
  — Washington Post, 3 Aug. 2021
• But along with despair, there is the drive to make a difference back home.
  — CBS News, 1 Oct. 2021
• The Dardennes are too honest to conceal their despair at the state of the world.
  — Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times, 24 Mar. 2023
• What the public saw was pink and, in many cases, despair.
  — Dewayne Bevil, orlandosentinel.com, 24 Feb. 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
• Which means that having the courage to despair means there is always hope.
  — Tina Isaac-Goizé, Vogue, 7 May 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
• Many of these debtors despair of ever paying the huge sums back.
  — Victor Davis Hanson, The Mercury News, 30 Aug. 2019
• Lue’s players tell it, that pluck stemmed as much from him as despair.
  — New York Times, 25 June 2021
• Grief can run the gamut from frequent tears to utter despair.
  — Brian Melley, BostonGlobe.com, 10 Oct. 2022
• Both teams were in tears at the end, some from ecstasy, some from despair.
  — Chris Scott, CNN, 15 Apr. 2018
• No wonder my dreams keep me in a captive state of despair.
  — Michael Bociurkiw, CNN, 10 Mar. 2022
• Théodore Géricault rendered their despair in his shocking 1819 work The Raft of the Medusa.
  — Manuel Mendoza, Dallas News, 10 Mar. 2023
• To do so may dredge up our own shame and guilt along with anxiety and despair.
  — Rhonda Garelick, The Cut, 11 July 2018

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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
• If your mood is just as dark, don’t despair: The sun will soon shine.
  — Tribune Content Agency, oregonlive, 16 Oct. 2020
• So don't despair if Champagne is hard to come by this year.
  — Jeanne O'Brien Coffey, Forbes, 23 Dec. 2021
• As time went on, the couple despaired of events in Russia.
  — Sophia Kishkovsky, New York Times, 8 June 2018
• The Vikings and their fans should not despair, even after the misery of Monday night.
  — Bob Sansevere, Twin Cities, 23 Dec. 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
• 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
• 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
• Don't despair, left-handers who have just smeared the ink across your paper yet again.
  — Elizabeth Preston, Discover Magazine, 31 Oct. 2013
• Harry is drunk, despairing, lovesick and lost down blind alleys much of the time.
  — Scott Timberg, latimes.com, 10 July 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
• 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 consumers shouldn’t despair, as AMD’s Su promised a version for them as well.
  — Mark Hachman, PCWorld, 5 June 2018
• But don't despair if the weather isn't working in your favor.
  — Leigh Morgan, AL.com, 30 Jan. 2018
• Don’t despair; there are, in fact, Orlando arts events on the horizon.
  — Matthew J. Palm, orlandosentinel.com, 5 Aug. 2020
• The ball flew over the despairing Rowe and into the back of the net, giving Rooney his tenth goal of the season as D.C. went on to secure the victory.
  — SI.com, 27 June 2019
• The few dentists serving the Union Army despaired at the state of the teeth around them, but dental care failed to take hold as a priority for the North.
  — National Geographic, 14 June 2019
• Alone and unable to work, Boylan despaired and made plans for suicide.
  — David Armstrong, ProPublica, 23 Aug. 2019
• But if yours leak butter or the dough becomes sticky and unworkable, do not despair.
  — Tribune News Service, cleveland, 11 Sep. 2020
• In the climax of the book, when the hero despairs at the greed and collapse of diplomacy that leads to the pointless Battle of the Five Armies, so is revealed Tolkien’s hatred of war.
  — Vann R. Newkirk Ii, The Atlantic, 22 Sep. 2017
• Harry Styles fans shouldn't despair, though, as the musician has several movie projects in the works.
  — Amy MacKelden, Harper's BAZAAR, 3 Oct. 2020
• What despairs us is knowing that the slightest breeze will leave us without power.
  — Danica Coto, The Denver Post, 27 Aug. 2019
• There is no need to despair if the videoconferencing wanes.
  — Maria Shine Stewart, cleveland, 7 Sep. 2020
• In other words, those still seeking a unicorn shouldn’t despair.
  — S.l. Price, SI.com, 8 Sep. 2017
• Viewers who love Susan Boyle shouldn't despair too much.
  — Kayla Keegan, Good Housekeeping, 19 Feb. 2019
• 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
• Heading into 2023, the market does not look to be improving, but that doesn’t mean founders should despair.
  — Yule Georgieva, Rolling Stone, 28 Feb. 2023

Last Updated: 2 May 2024