Synonyms of desperation

desperation

noun

ˌde-spə-ˈrā-shən 

as in despair

utter loss of hope

during the famine her desperation drove her to do things she wouldn't have normally considered

Synonyms & Similar Words

• despair
• sadness
• hopelessness
• sorrow
• depression
• melancholy
• agony
• misery
• despondence
• despondency
• forlornness
• oppression
• resignation
• slough of despond
• pain
• distress
• unhappiness
• sorrowfulness
• dejection
• gloom
• despond
• acceptance
• mournfulness
• joylessness
• self-pity
• gloominess
• dreariness
• blues
• dumps
• cynicism
• desolation
• pessimism
• blue devils
• doldrums
• dolor
• wretchedness
• woe
• mopes
• downheartedness
• self-despair
• dispiritedness
• disconsolateness
• woefulness
• dolefulness

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• hope
• hopefulness
• optimism
• cheerfulness
• cheer
• mirth
• glee
• joy
• elation
• ecstasy
• merriment
• exuberance
• gaiety
• joviality
• happiness
• sunniness
• euphoria
• jollity
• exultation
• exhilaration
• lightheartedness
• jubilation
• bliss
• rapture
• joyousness
• joyfulness
• gladness
• gleefulness
• mirthfulness
• blissfulness
• elatedness
• rapturousness

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of desperation

As men, women and children flooded across the border between Morocco and Spain, into the autonomous city of Ceuta at the end of July, European populists and anti-immigrant politicians capitalized on the shocking images of human desperation. — Vasco Cotovio, CNN Money, 21 Aug. 2026

Dog Day Afternoon has unique sympathy for its central characters, emphasizing their desperation and seemingly endless complexity without condescension or oversimplification. — Wesley Stenzel, Entertainment Weekly, 21 Aug. 2026

But in his desperation to find a Russian pressure point that could restart the peace process, Zelensky allowed preparations for the strikes to continue for several months this spring and early summer, both sources said. — Simon Shuster, The Atlantic, 20 Aug. 2026

Primarily a portrait photographer, Lange began photographing unemployed men wandering the streets of San Francisco during the early years of the Great Depression, starkly capturing their desperation. — Encyclopedia Britannica, 17 Aug. 2026