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
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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
John Penner, Los Angeles Times, 8 Jan. 2026
In the current political climate, the girl is despairing.
—Eric Adler, Kansas City Star, 23 Dec. 2025
The New Yorker, New Yorker, 31 Dec. 2025
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
See All Example Sentences for despairing
Adjective
Some of Tarr’s most memorable scenes feature landscapes, often bleak and despairing settings of decaying Hungarian towns, punctuated with close-ups of characters’ faces.
—John Penner, Los Angeles Times, 8 Jan. 2026
In the current political climate, the girl is despairing.
—Eric Adler, Kansas City Star, 23 Dec. 2025
Verb
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
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
See All Example Sentences for despairing
Recent Examples of Synonyms for despairing
Adjective
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In a more simplistic story, Derya and Aziz’s efforts to find a good private school for their daughter would come off as a hopeless bourgeois indulgence.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
26 Feb. 2026
-
The result has been a bloodbath in the state of Sinaloa, with thousands killed, thousands more missing and the violence reaching such heights that the Mexican government looks hopeless, if not hapless.—
Daniel DePetris,
Chicago Tribune,
24 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
If the first four episodes of Bridgerton’s swoon-worthy fourth season were about desperate, hungry yearning, then the final four were more about, er, consummation—complete with secret trysts, steaming hot baths, false identities, and genuinely big shocks.—
Radhika Seth,
Vogue,
26 Feb. 2026
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His two estranged children, desperate for an inheritance, hire Lori, an art restorer and former forger, to pose as a prospective assistant in order to access 8 unfinished canvases Julian has buried deep in storage.—
Christian Zilko,
IndieWire,
26 Feb. 2026
Verb
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As one southwest Missouri sheriff’s department is grieving the loss of two deputies, two others — who one of the slain deputies was trying to help when he was killed — are recovering after surgery.—
Laura Bauer,
Kansas City Star,
24 Feb. 2026
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Meika Loe, a Colgate University sociology professor, told me that many of her female students are grieving the loss of bodily autonomy.—
Faith Hill,
The Atlantic,
23 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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Craig Robinson is Reggie’s nemesis, as the aforementioned Jerry Basmati, a rival player (and cynical Christian), who inherited the post-gridiron media career Reggie imagined for himself.—
Television Critic,
Los Angeles Times,
23 Feb. 2026
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To some leaders of the Council, President Harry Truman’s early recognition of the Jewish state in 1948 was not a great human-rights advance but a cynical gambit to pander to a bloc of voters and improve his chance of being reëlected in 1948.—
Nicholas Lemann,
New Yorker,
21 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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Incensed, Oseguera plotted revenge in 2009 and 2010 with others who were unhappy with Milenio’s new leadership and spearheaded a deadly coup.—
N'dea Yancey-Bragg,
USA Today,
22 Feb. 2026
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Last summer, the city also confirmed that since Crow Tow took over vehicle releases from the Police Department, no appeals hearings had been held for anyone unhappy with impounding or the prices the company charges.—
Lee Rood,
Des Moines Register,
20 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Despite suffering heavy losses in the war with Israel, satellite imagery analysis reveals that Iran has rebuilt damaged missile facilities.—
Farida Elsebai,
CNN Money,
20 Feb. 2026
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The Assertive Community Treatment program sought to find and help treat people suffering from severe mental illness, including schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.—
Sarah Cutler,
Idaho Statesman,
20 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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Mendy Rendler, a longtime congregant, described the scene as a sad reminder that the congregation is displaced and not allowed to make repairs.—
Hannah Kliger,
CBS News,
26 Feb. 2026
-
Oooooofff, that is sad, my heart is breaking!—
Christina Grace Tucker,
Vulture,
26 Feb. 2026
Verb
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The death of Princess Diana — the ex-wife of Charles — in a car crash in Paris in 1997, at the age of 36, shocked the world and left her family, including sons William and Harry, then 15 and 12, in mourning.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
22 Feb. 2026
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The world is mourning the loss of Willie Colón, who died Saturday at the age of 75.—
Lucas Villa,
Rolling Stone,
21 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Despairing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/despairing. Accessed 28 Feb. 2026.
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