despair

despair
    n 1: a state in which all hope is lost or absent; "in the depths
         of despair"; "they were rescued from despair at the last
         minute"; "courage born of desperation" [syn: {despair},
         {desperation}]
    2: the feeling that everything is wrong and nothing will turn
       out well; "they moaned in despair and dismay"; "one harsh
       word would send her into the depths of despair" [ant: {hope}]
    v 1: abandon hope; give up hope; lose heart; "Don't despair--
         help is on the way!" [ant: {hope}]
    

Despair \De*spair"\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Despaired}; p. pr. &
   vb. n. {Despairing}.] [OE. despeiren, dispeiren, OF.
   desperer, fr. L. desperare; de- + sperare to hope; akin to
   spes hope, and perh. to spatium space, E. space, speed; cf.
   OF. espeir hope, F. espoir. Cf. {Prosper}, {Desperate}.]
   To be hopeless; to have no hope; to give up all hope or
   expectation; -- often with of.
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         We despaired even of life.               --2 Cor. i. 8.
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         Never despair of God's blessings here.   --Wake.

   Syn: See {Despond}.
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Despair \De*spair"\, v. t.
   1. To give up as beyond hope or expectation; to despair of.
      [Obs.]
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            I would not despair the greatest design that could
            be attempted.                         --Milton.
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   2. To cause to despair. [Obs.] --Sir W. Williams.
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Despair \De*spair"\, n. [Cf. OF. despoir, fr. desperer.]
   1. Loss of hope; utter hopelessness; complete despondency.
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            We in dark dreams are tossing to and fro,
            Pine with regret, or sicken with despair. --Keble.
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            Before he [Bunyan] was ten, his sports were
            interrupted by fits of remorse and despair.
                                                  --Macaulay.
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   2. That which is despaired of. "The mere despair of surgery
      he cures." --Shak.

   Syn: Desperation; despondency; hopelessness.
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98 Moby Thesaurus words for "despair":
      Schmerz, Slough of Despond, abandon, abandon hope, acedia,
      aching heart, agony, agony of mind, anguish, apathy, bale,
      become suicidal, bitterness, blank despondency, bleeding heart,
      broken heart, cave of Trophonius, cave of despair, crushing,
      death wish, dejectedness, dejection, depression, depth of misery,
      desolation, despair of, desperateness, desperation, despond,
      despondency, despondentness, disconsolateness, discouragement,
      disheartenment, dispiritedness, distress, down trip, downcastness,
      downer, downheartedness, droop, drooping spirits, drop, extremity,
      falter, forlornness, give up, give up hope, give way, gloom,
      gloominess, grief, heartache, heartlessness, heavy heart,
      hit rock bottom, hopelessness, infelicity, languish, lose heart,
      lose hope, low spirits, lowness, lowness of spirit, malaise,
      melancholia, melancholy, miserableness, misery, no exit, no way,
      no way out, oppression, pessimism, plumb the depths, prostration,
      quit, reach the depths, relinquish, renounce, resign, resignation,
      sadness, self-destructive urge, sink, sink into despair,
      sinking heart, sloth, spiritlessness, suicidal despair, surrender,
      taedium vitae, touch bottom, weariness of life, woe, wretchedness,
      yield, yield to despair