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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 despondence There’s a lingering despondence in his expression. Julius Miller, Los Angeles Times, 22 Jan. 2025 Democrats have already begun the autopsy on the election results as Harris supporters express a mix of outrage and despondence. Thomas G. Moukawsher, Newsweek, 7 Nov. 2024 Emitting a combination of anger, frustration, and despondence, the University of Utah’s fifth-year junior quarterback was 15 minutes removed from throwing a back-breaking interception in the end zone that helped seal a 29-26 University of Florida win at The Swamp. Josh Newman, The Salt Lake Tribune, 4 Sep. 2022 My pandemic weariness turned into despondence. Los Angeles Times, 6 May 2021 Baade, who remembers his own father’s despondence when the Braves left town, doesn’t outright dismiss the idea that the Brewers could leave, agreeing that a smaller-market team is at a disadvantage. Jr Radcliffe, Journal Sentinel, 17 Feb. 2023 Amy's behavior demonstrates how scoring high in each of these components facilitates a flexible, confident and passionate approach to life and ensures a strong degree of resiliency when faced with anxiety, despondence and overwhelm. Roberta Moore, Forbes, 14 Feb. 2023 Cowboys owner Jerry Jones recalls his own quiet despondence when Dallas began the season not only with a loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers but a five-game loss of quarterback Dak Prescott to a thumb fracture. Dallas News, 30 Oct. 2022 Both question the human costs of work, zooming in on the affects—despondence, alienation, indifference—that businesses produce alongside goods and services. Stephen Kearse, The Atlantic, 15 Apr. 2022
Recent Examples of Synonyms for despondence
Noun
  • Years of economic dysfunction have left the country’s once-thriving middle class in a state of desperation.
    Kareem Chehayeb, Los Angeles Times, 8 June 2025
  • Based on Spoelstra’s success in driving the Heat to and through the playoffs, nothing dramatic needed here, certainly nothing like the Knicks’ act of desperation with Thibodeau.
    Ira Winderman, Sun Sentinel, 7 June 2025
Noun
  • Over time, the nearly circular 75-mile-wide (120 kilometers) depression has been eroded by water and ice, enlarging it to nearly twice its initial size.
    Samantha Mathewson, Space.com, 6 June 2025
  • Young caregivers report more depression, anxiety, and stress than their peers.
    Leah Fabel, Miami Herald, 5 June 2025
Noun
  • My Guard’s presence tamped down potentially dangerous outbursts of anger and despair.
    Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 13 June 2025
  • Almost two decades later, his family — who spent years grappling with unanswered questions that only fueled their fear and despair — finally learned what happened to him.
    Sam Gillette, People.com, 13 June 2025
Noun
  • This tale of the power of community spirit in difficult times, interwoven with a fine strand of melancholy, is as disarming and subtly engaging as the director’s unshakeable faith in human decency.
    Leo Barraclough, Variety, 3 June 2025
  • The production gives it a lush feel, but it’s haunted by a certain melancholy.
    David Chiu, Forbes.com, 24 May 2025
Noun
  • To date, the Facebook post about her story has garnered more than 19,000 reactions, sparking a wave of sorrow and outrage from animal lovers across the country.
    Melissa Fleur Afshar, MSNBC Newsweek, 11 June 2025
  • Prefaced by a host of personal disasters—the death of her mother’s onetime partner Mary Norcross, her own hospitalization for digestive problems, her mother’s painful shingles and neuralgia—the decade of the 1940s brought sorrow.
    Susan Gubar June 9, Literary Hub, 9 June 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Despondence.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/despondence. Accessed 17 Jun. 2025.

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