despond
Definitions
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WordNet 3.6
- v despond lose confidence or hope; become dejected "The supporters of the Presidential candidate desponded when they learned the early results of the election"
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
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- n Despond Despondency. "The slough of despond .""The people, when once infected, lose their relish for happiness [and] saunter about with looks of despondence ."
- v. i despond To give up the will, courage, or spirit; to be thoroughly disheartened; to lose all courage; to become dispirited or depressed; to take an unhopeful view. "I should despair, or at least despond .""Others depress their own minds, [and despond at the first difficulty.""We wish that . . . desponding patriotism may turn its eyes hitherward, and be assured that the foundations of our national power still stand strong."
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Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
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- despond To lose heart, resolution, or hope; be cast down; be depressed or dejected in mind.
- despond Synonyms Despair, Despond. Despair implies a total loss of hope; despond does not. Despondency produces a disposition to relax or relinquish effort; despair generally stops all effort. See despair, n.
- n despond Despondency.
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Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
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- v.i Despond de-spond′ to lose hope or courage: to despair
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Quotations
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“One does nothing who tries to console a despondent person with word. A friend is one who aids with deeds at a critical time when deeds are called for.” -
“How many feasible projects have miscarried through despondency, and been strangled in their birth by a cowardly imagination.” -
“The greatest pride, or the greatest despondency, is the greatest ignorance of one's self.” -
“There is a sort of jealousy which needs very little fire; it is hardly a passion, but a blight bred in the cloudy, damp despondency of uneasy egoism.” -
“I cannot forgive a scholar his homeless despondency.” -
“Nobody ever grew despondent looking for trouble.”
Idioms
Slough of despond - If someone is very depressed or in despair, they're in a slough of despond.
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Etymology
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
L. despondēre, desponsum, to promise away, promise in marriage, give up, to lose (courage); de-, + spondēre, to promise solemnly. See Sponsor
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
L. despondēre, to promise, to give up or devote to, to give up or resign, to lose courage, to despond—de, away, and spondēre, to promise.
Usage
In literature:
He found the doctor sitting in a despondent attitude, almost where he had left him, holding in his hand a crumpled letter.
"The Diamond Coterie" by Lawrence L. Lynch
The skipper shook his head despondently.
"More Cargoes" by W. W. Jacobs
So you will set down my political despondency as my only disease.
"The Letters of Charles Dickens" by Charles Dickens
Despondency began again to seize our men, and then a spirit of insubordination manifested itself in cries of rage.
"Thrilling Narratives of Mutiny, Murder and Piracy" by Anonymous
One evening I was walking through the streets in a despondent mood, as had become my habit.
"The Crack of Doom" by Robert Cromie
He fixed his eyes on the plug hat that was still lowered in the attitude of despondency.
"Ainslee's, Vol. 15, No. 5, June 1905" by Various
He is a dyspeptic being, homesick and desponding, but he is a man.
"David Fleming's Forgiveness" by Margaret Murray Robertson
He then made a despondent gesture with both hands at once, as if he gave the thing up altogether.
"A Budget of Christmas Tales by Charles Dickens and Others" by Various
His despondency had vanished, and the world again seemed bright to him.
"Ben, the Luggage Boy;" by Horatio Alger
When days had many of them passed away, Mr. Despondency was sent for.
"Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern, Vol. 7" by Various
De Soto was thrown into a state of the deepest despondency.
"Ferdinand De Soto, The Discoverer of the Mississippi" by John S. C. Abbott
Her letters to us contained no word of despondency; she spoke more of what she thought than of what she felt.
"Graham's Magazine Vol XXXII. No. 5. May 1848" by Various
And when they finally see where the fault lies, they are still more desponding.
"Diary from November 12, 1862, to October 18, 1863" by Adam Gurowski
Sometimes irrelevant cheerfulness seems only to make despondency more deep.
"The Practice of Autosuggestion" by C. Harry Brooks
They speak of their duties in despondent tones.
"Ireland as It Is" by Robert John Buckley (AKA R.J.B.)
Theodora started from her reverie, and all again became a chaos of misery and despondence.
"Gomez Arias" by Joaquín Telesforo de Trueba y Cosío
He had passed through the Slough of Despond.
"Bunyan" by James Anthony Froude
In one moment he had passed from despondency to the height of exultation.
"Name and Fame" by Adeline Sergeant
Like broken-winged, wet crows they leave the sunlit sea, and hide themselves in the misty marshes of despondency.
"Farthest North" by Fridtjof Nansen
A ray of hope now darted through Ali's desponding mind.
"Tales from the German" by Various
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In poetry:
"Think of how many
A flower for thee,
Hath wasted its heart
In despondency.
A flower for thee,
Hath wasted its heart
In despondency.
"The Dew-Drop: A Metrical Fantasy" by Samuel Lover
Till, discouraged and desponding,
Sat he now in shadows deep,
And the day's humiliation
Found oblivion in sleep.
Sat he now in shadows deep,
And the day's humiliation
Found oblivion in sleep.
"By The Fireside : Gaspar Becerra" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Away, ye midnight phantoms all!
Away, despondence and despair!
Whatever guilt the night has brought
Now let it vanish into air.
Away, despondence and despair!
Whatever guilt the night has brought
Now let it vanish into air.
"The Dawn Is Sprinkling In the East" by Augusta Treverorum
Said Aristu to Aflatun -
"Surely our King, despondent soon,
Has sent this second ship to find
Unconquered tracts of humankind."
"Surely our King, despondent soon,
Has sent this second ship to find
Unconquered tracts of humankind."
"The Ballad of Iskander" by James Elroy Flecker
We smile in scorn: and yet we know
They early sought the tomb,
Their hearts, that now so freshly glow,
Lost in desponding gloom.
They early sought the tomb,
Their hearts, that now so freshly glow,
Lost in desponding gloom.
"Tuesday In Easter Week" by John Keble
``'Tis true I have to you not brought
My eager or despondent mood,
But still by wood and stream have sought
The sanctity of solitude.
My eager or despondent mood,
But still by wood and stream have sought
The sanctity of solitude.
"Outside The Village Church" by Alfred Austin
In news:
When Rafael Furcal became despondent over his poor play late in the 2011 season and wanted to quit, Cardinals teammate Albert Pujols went to Furcal 's home and encouraged him to return.
Republican political strategist Karl Rove jokes that he is no longer suicidal after the November election - he's merely despondent.
Health care is a morass, a quagmire, a slough of policy despond, but perhaps complexity science can help chart a path forward.
DeVonte Christopher's mother was despondent as she sat in the Seattle airport waiting for her flight early Sunday morning.
A 26-year-old man reportedly despondent since his ex-girlfriend found a new love interest was ordered held on $150,000 bail Friday on charges he threatened to kill her fiance and himself.
According to the New York State Police, Troopers responded to a call of a despondent person on Ecker Hollow Road.
' The video depicts a preteen Enrique hanging out with a cute blond, then cuts back to the present day to find the singer despondent over the girl he still misses years later.
Their lovely children lightened the despondency I felt over the raging Iraq war.
One year ago Wednesday, despondent Army Pvt .
So why was Nick - the intern working on opening his own CrossFit gym in Goleta - so despondent.
List them all to a Washington football fan and the reactions will vary from remorse (Tim Hasselbeck) to shame (Jeff George) to despondence (Heath Shuler).
The options for despondent conservatives are somewhat limited at this juncture: They can pout.
Nevis responders inch out on thin ice to rescue despondent woman.
NORWALK — A despondent man was arrested after firing several shots during a standoff on Hillside Place Thursday.
She was so despondent that her world began to fall apart.
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In science:
However, the cosmic string community is not despondent and there is renewed motivation to understand some very important points which may significantly alter the ‘standard’ picture of cosmic string formation and evolution .
Evolution of a Network of Cosmic String Loops
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