1
as in hopeless
emphasizing or expecting the worst
despairing predictions regarding the effects of global overpopulation
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
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
as in grieving
to lose all hope or confidence
we despaired when we saw how little time we had left to complete our project
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of despairing
Greg Wehner, FOXNews.com, 24 May 2025
His family’s worldwide profiteering and his own cryptocurrency ventures reflect a staggering assumption of impunity.
1933 and 2025 — a comparison
America was despairing when FDR took office in March 1933.
—Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 6 May 2025
Tribune News Service, The Mercury News, 19 Oct. 2024
Meme-makers across America are despairing right now.
—Lorraine Ali, Los Angeles Times, 1 Oct. 2024
See All Example Sentences for despairing
Adjective
That same investigation may find the veteran was despairing, had just gone through a divorce or something along those lines.
—Greg Wehner, FOXNews.com, 24 May 2025
His family’s worldwide profiteering and his own cryptocurrency ventures reflect a staggering assumption of impunity.
1933 and 2025 — a comparison
America was despairing when FDR took office in March 1933.
—Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 6 May 2025
Verb
These are the people who, despairing of finding their way out honestly, simply smash and bash their way through the corn willy-nilly.
—Tribune News Service, The Mercury News, 19 Oct. 2024
Meme-makers across America are despairing right now.
—Lorraine Ali, Los Angeles Times, 1 Oct. 2024
See All Example Sentences for despairing
Recent Examples of Synonyms for despairing
Adjective
-
In a time when the suffering and seemingly hopeless prospects of America’s poor are known to all who have eyes to see, the only fig leaf available to hide the obscenity of this bill is the old partisan charge of waste, fraud and abuse.—
Clarence Page,
Chicago Tribune,
6 July 2025
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Valentine, Texas, stamps 10,000+ love letters each year For more than three decades, the small-town Valentine Post Office — also known as the Love Station — has processed thousands of love letters from hopeless romantics around the world.—
Brandi D. Addison,
Austin American Statesman,
2 July 2025
Adjective
-
The leaders of both are desperate to find a ‘solution’ to the issue, in order to ward off the electoral challenges from right-wing parties such as Reform U.K. and France’s National Rally.—
Frey Lindsay,
Forbes.com,
30 June 2025
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Separate efforts by the United Nations to distribute limited food have been plagued by armed gangs looting trucks and by crowds of desperate people offloading supplies from convoys.—
WAFAA SHURAFA,
Arkansas Online,
29 June 2025
Verb
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Bereavement hallucinations—intensely vivid encounters with the deceased—are reported by as many as half of all grieving people.—
Adam Gopnik,
The New Yorker,
24 Mar. 2025
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The Catalan feature tells the stories of Anabel and her mother, Delia, who are grieving for Julián, Anabel’s father.—
Jamie Lang,
Variety,
22 Mar. 2025
Adjective
-
The cynical view would be that Trump is looking for a reason to have federal troops join ICE in rounding up undocumented immigrants that Mamdani tries to protect, and to arrest local officials who get in their way.—
Anna Commander,
MSNBC Newsweek,
8 July 2025
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There is a certain business logic to that; from a cynical perspective, if a £10million investment fails to live up to expectations, the financial downside for the buying club is relatively small — and in many cases, he will be sold to somewhere lower down the sport’s food chain.—
Oliver Kay,
New York Times,
8 July 2025
Adjective
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This gives the creditor an additional target to pursue and make very unhappy which can indirectly put pressure on the debtor to pay the judgment.—
Jay Adkisson,
Forbes.com,
2 July 2025
-
Circulation increased and the publication won two Pulitzer Prizes, but the owner, conservative Harry Guggenheim, was unhappy with the paper’s shift to the left, and he and Moyers were divided over the Vietnam War and the 1968 presidential election.—
Carmel Dagan,
Variety,
26 June 2025
Verb
-
The dual-threat running back missed most of the 2024 season due to suffering tendinitis in both feet.—
George Monastiriakos,
Newsweek,
31 Dec. 2024
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San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy left the team's 40-34 Monday Night Football loss to the Detroit Lions after suffering an apparent arm injury late in the fourth quarter.—
George Monastiriakos,
Newsweek,
31 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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Too much alcohol and your dreamy dessert turns into a sad, semi-frozen slush.—
Emily Price,
Forbes.com,
1 July 2025
-
Her eyes are big and sad, and her index finger touches the tip of the nightstick hanging from the policeman’s belt.—
Daniel Alarcón,
New Yorker,
30 June 2025
Verb
-
Also, the episode opens with the introduction of Kaitlyn Dever’s Abby with a group of Fireflies, seemingly mourning the losses at the hospital where Joel murdered everyone to save Ellie.—
Katie Campione,
Deadline,
13 Apr. 2025
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The community is now mourning his loss.—
Jo Ciavaglia,
USA Today,
13 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Despairing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/despairing. Accessed 14 Jul. 2025.
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