DESPAIRING Synonyms: 168 Similar and Opposite Words

Q: How does the adjective 'despairing' differ from other similar words?

Some common synonyms of despairing are desperate , despondent , and hopeless . While all these words mean "having lost all or nearly all hope," despairing suggests the slipping away of all hope and often despondency. // despairing appeals for the return of the kidnapped child

Q: When is it sensible to use 'desperate' instead of 'despairing'?

While the synonyms desperate and despairing are close in meaning, desperate implies despair that prompts reckless action or violence in the face of defeat or frustration. // one last desperate attempt to turn the tide of battle

Q: When might 'despondent' be a better fit than 'despairing'?

While in some cases nearly identical to despairing , despondent implies a deep dejection arising from a conviction of the uselessness of further effort. // despondent about yet another rejection

Q: Where would 'hopeless' be a reasonable alternative to 'despairing'?

The synonyms hopeless and despairing are sometimes interchangeable, but hopeless suggests despair and the cessation of effort or resistance and often implies acceptance or resignation. // the situation of the trapped miners is hopeless

despairing 1 of 2

adjective

di-ˈsper-iŋ

Definition of despairing

as in hopeless

emphasizing or expecting the worst despairing predictions regarding the effects of global overpopulation

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in desperate

feeling or showing no hope despairing applicants need to be reminded that most students are eventually accepted somewhere

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

despairing

2 of 2

verb

present participle of despair

as in grieving

to lose all hope or confidence we despaired when we saw how little time we had left to complete our project

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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How does the adjective despairing differ from other similar words?

Some common synonyms of despairing are desperate, despondent, and hopeless. While all these words mean "having lost all or nearly all hope," despairing suggests the slipping away of all hope and often despondency.

despairing appeals for the return of the kidnapped child

When is it sensible to use desperate instead of despairing?

While the synonyms desperate and despairing are close in meaning, desperate implies despair that prompts reckless action or violence in the face of defeat or frustration.

one last desperate attempt to turn the tide of battle

When might despondent be a better fit than despairing?

While in some cases nearly identical to despairing, despondent implies a deep dejection arising from a conviction of the uselessness of further effort.

despondent about yet another rejection

Where would hopeless be a reasonable alternative to despairing?

The synonyms hopeless and despairing are sometimes interchangeable, but hopeless suggests despair and the cessation of effort or resistance and often implies acceptance or resignation.

the situation of the trapped miners is hopeless

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of despairing

Adjective

Irony doesn’t have to be nihilistic or despairing. — Aaron Matz, The New York Review of Books, 4 Apr. 2026 Rebin carries a despairing sense of hope in him, months later. — Cora Engelbrecht, New Yorker, 3 Apr. 2026

Verb

Those ‘boys’ are in their late forties and fifties now — a comforting reminder, to parents who may be despairing about enduring another entry in this franchise, that all children eventually grow up. — Caspar Salmon, Variety, 7 Aug. 2026 The book’s tone shifts from philosophical to playful to despairing to sensual, and on around again. — The New Yorker, New Yorker, 31 Dec. 2025 See All Example Sentences for despairing

Recent Examples of Synonyms for despairing

Adjective

Vaughn Hardenberg Westwood Blame game The Angels fire manager Kurt Suzuki after another dismal, hopeless season.

— Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 24 Oct. 2026
On Monday, a day after the Colts lost to the winless and hopeless Tennessee Titans at home, Indianapolis announced that Ballard has been relieved of his duties as team general manager.

— Mark Harris OutKick, FOXNews.com, 19 Oct. 2026

Definition of hopeless

Adjective

Directed and co-written by Yeon Sang-ho and starring Kim Hyun-joo and Bae Hyun-sung, the mystery follows a desperate mother navigating a closed religious community while searching for her missing son.

— Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 26 Oct. 2026
Many of society’s loneliest and most attention-starved members become its most desperate and violent.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 26 Oct. 2026

Definition of desperate

Verb

The organization describes one grieving family that compromised on a smaller Christmas tree placed in another room, allowing relatives who wanted to decorate to do so without changing the main gathering space.

— Ashley Lynch, Sacbee.com, 30 Oct. 2026
The series showcases a town torn apart by heinous crimes, while centering Jonah, a grieving man determined to get answers by any means necessary.

— Aramide Tinubu, Variety, 30 Oct. 2026

Definition of grieving

Adjective

Many of the women in the packed courtroom gallery appeared unhappy when the sentences were rendered.

— Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 28 Oct. 2026
Andy’s view Almost 14 years into Xi Jinping’s norm-busting reign, just about everybody is unhappy with his economy.

— Andy Browne, semafor.com, 27 Oct. 2026

Definition of unhappy

Verb

People across Sudan are not only hungry every single day, but countless people are suffering from severe malnutrition to starvation.

— Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 31 Oct. 2026
Its original location on a spit of land between the Atlantic Ocean and the salt pond may have been a bit too ambitious—after suffering damage from the 1938 New England Hurricane, it was relocated across the pond, reopening in 1939.

— Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 31 Oct. 2026

Definition of suffering

Adjective

State Drive, an ugly black roadway, separates the Science Center and its new addition from the park’s Rose Garden, and serves as a sad connector to the rest of the park.

— Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 27 Oct. 2026
As more details came out, the sad truth of Perry’s relapses and drug hustle emerged.

— Dominic Patten, Deadline, 27 Oct. 2026

Definition of sad

Verb

This memory of the body’s muscle enacted in the gesture of cutting, moved from anger to mindfulness to mourning for all that was lost in that claiming of art.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 21 Oct. 2026
Yet as black became a defining color of modern fashion, most famously through Gabrielle Chanel’s little black dress of 1926, its association with mourning gradually loosened.

— Livia Caligor, Vogue, 21 Oct. 2026

Definition of mourning

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“Despairing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/despairing. Accessed 3 Nov. 2026.

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verb

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