DESPOND Synonyms: 135 Similar and Opposite Words

despond 1 of 2

noun

Definition of despond

as in sadness

a state or spell of low spirits he sank into a crushing despond after his wife left him

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in despair

utter loss of hope loss of his job threw him into a deep despond

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despond

2 of 2

verb

di-ˈspänd

as in to despair

to lose all hope or confidence we must not despond even though we live in trying times

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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 despond

Noun

Lonely and addicted to her social media feeds, Selena plunged into a deep despond and filmed her death-by-overdose on Snap. — Paul Solotaroff, Rolling Stone, 17 June 2024 The slough of Mardenborough's despond comes towards the end of the film when a crash at the Nürburgring results in the death of a spectator. — Elana Scherr, Car and Driver, 11 Aug. 2023 Animal spirits might buoy up markets again, or investors might sink back into the sort of despond that ended 2015, but sentiment currently offers little guide. — James MacKintosh, WSJ, 20 Dec. 2018

Recent Examples of Synonyms for despond

Noun

Despite being steeped in the sadness and frustration of the working class, Lee’s drama uses its film-within-a-film construct to refract the moral valences of labor through the prism of what people actually earn through their work.

— David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 6 Sep. 2026
This one, however, finds the director in a mood to confront the inevitable changes and march of time, its joys and sadness in the lives of ordinary people going about living it.

— Pete Hammond, Deadline, 4 Sep. 2026

Definition of sadness

Noun

But comparisons aside, this is unmistakably a Lee Chang-dong film, its aching humanism reflecting the co-existence of despair and hope.

— David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 6 Sep. 2026
From despair to salvation and then back again, the picture at the end of Sunday’s 2-2 draw with Manchester United was of flailing limbs, both on the touchline, as players mobbed late, late equaliser-scorer Ainsley Maitland-Niles, and in the stands.

— Patrick Boyland, New York Times, 6 Sep. 2026

Definition of despair

Noun

Overall, Carr says groups treated with itPBM showed fewer symptoms of depression, anxiety, stress and PTSD, and showed more efficient processing, faster response speed, improved sustained attention and enhanced executive function.

— Mirin Fader, New York Times, 11 Sep. 2026
The left brain, by contrast, commands language processing, and following a stroke to the left brain, a person can develop not only a communication disorder but often post-stroke depression as well.

— Michael P.H. Stanley, STAT, 10 Sep. 2026

Definition of depression

Noun

There would be anguish and desperation and worry and guilt for sure.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 11 Sep. 2026
Swapping dirty fingernails for loose shotgun shells, Abrams carves Bryan from the same gnarled sense of desperation — but gives the character’s spirit a kinder shade overall.

— Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 9 Sep. 2026

Definition of desperation

Noun

On the one hand, there’s a fascination with collective joy and the forms of vernacular invention that aspire to it; on the other, there’s an underlying melancholy that points to the inevitability of isolation, an epistemology of loneliness.

— Pablo Larios, Artforum, 1 Sep. 2026
Beneath all the sensuality and beauty, there’s also a lingering melancholy that feels very familiar to me.

— Erik Pedersen, Oc Register, 16 June 2026

Definition of melancholy

Noun

The gloom lifts in one crucial scene, late in the film, in which Sandra and April sit side by side before a bright window.

— Natalia Winkelman, Variety, 16 Sep. 2026
Inside, we were whisked away to a world of rain and candles and velvet and creepy houses and stormy, witchy gloom.

— Danielle Pergament, Allure, 14 Sep. 2026

Definition of gloom

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“Despond.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/despond. Accessed 17 Sep. 2026.

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Synonyms of despond

noun

verb

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Synonyms of despond

noun

verb

Example Sentences

Phrases Containing despond

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

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watershed

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