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despondently

adverb

Definition of despondentlynext
as in dejectedly

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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 despondently And in the film’s poignant final scene, Joe despondently plays his piano − only for Angela to sit beside him and start plunking along. — Patrick Ryan, USA Today, 11 July 2026 The concept art and teaser trailer unveiled in 2024 depicted the toys looking on despondently as the child who owns the toys is engrossed in an activity on a tablet. — Madison E. Goldberg, PEOPLE, 29 Apr. 2026 Semi-autobiographical in one sense and despondently poetic in the other, The Stranger launched Camus’ career as a major 20th century author. — Jordan Mintzer, HollywoodReporter, 2 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for despondently
  1. dejectedly
  2. despairingly
  3. mournfully
  4. dolefully
  5. resentfully
  6. sorrowfully
  7. plaintively
  8. ruefully
Adverb
  • The Manchester City star sat dejectedly on the bench after he was subbed out for Jorgen Strand Larsen in the second half of extra time.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 11 July 2026
  • Camp Bravo could only watch dejectedly, finally on the beach to witness defeat up close.
    — Bryan Alexander, USA Today, 17 June 2026
Definition of dejectedly
Adverb
  • For other families quietly and often despairingly living with similar problems of addiction and mental illness involving their children, the tragedy is an unnerving, looming specter — a worst-case scenario made real.
    — Gary Baum, HollywoodReporter, 14 Sep. 2026
  • Parents of children made sickest must wait it out in the hospital, despairingly wondering whether their child will die.
    — Noel T. Brewer, STAT, 6 Aug. 2026
Definition of despairingly
Adverb
  • Fra Fee, as Joe, has a slightly harder task, since his role is almost entirely reactive; while Ethan bangs on mournfully about, effectively, the dangers of shagging your brother’s wife — well, who would have thought?
    — Damon Wise, Deadline, 13 Sep. 2026
  • Mayfield watched mournfully in his kitchen while the rest of the family sat in the living room with the big screen next to a Christmas tree.
    — John Romano, The Orlando Sentinel, 19 July 2026
Definition of mournfully
Adverb
  • There’s ample gore and jumpy moments, but the true scariness here is of the forlorn kind; leads Joe Bird and Stacy Clausen play the mounting nightmare with ache and desperation, elevating the emotional tenor of a dolefully eerie movie.
    — Richard Lawson, HollywoodReporter, 31 Jan. 2026
Definition of dolefully
Adverb
  • Pacino had to leap and, eventually, resentfully, stand on a chair to spray-paint over the bank’s cameras.
    — Sara Holdren, Vulture, 31 Mar. 2026
  • In a blowup argument, Ethan resentfully calls James’ privilege a deficiency that prevents him from understanding more difficult lives.
    — David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2019
Definition of resentfully
Adverb
  • Tarun would tease her, and my mother would look sorrowfully toward Kavitha, as if the two of them now shared some womanly burden.
    — Madhuri Vijay, New Yorker, 16 Nov. 2025
Definition of sorrowfully
Adverb
  • Now he is stood plaintively at the window, looking in at the roaring hearth and the feast, starting Carabao Cup games but getting hooked at half-time with Jamie Gittens and 16-year-old academy kids.
    — Jack Lang, New York Times, 11 Sep. 2026
  • The evening tolling of the bell at the Hōshō-ji temple echoed plaintively.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 28 May 2026
Definition of plaintively
Adverb
  • Carrie Warick-Smith, at the Association of Community College Trustees, laughed ruefully when she was asked when that journey — and the free money to start it — might actually begin.
    — Elissa Nadworny, NPR, 30 June 2026
  • As Chemerinsky ruefully admits, courts have deemed such suits in recent decades to be political questions outside their scope.
    — David A. Graham, The Atlantic, 1 May 2026
Definition of ruefully

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Cite this Entry

“Despondently.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/despondently. Accessed 27 Sep. 2026.

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