despond

(dĭ-spŏnd')
intr.v., -spond·ed, -spond·ing, -sponds.
To become disheartened or discouraged.

n.
Despondency: "The outward show of fight masked a spreading inner despond at the White House" (Newsweek).

[Latin dēspondēre, to give up : dē-, de- + spondēre, to promise.]

despondingly de·spond'ing·ly adv.

Martha Stewart has picked up her life pretty much where she left off before her stint in prison. But her former stockbroker and partner in crime, Peter Bacanovic, didn't fare quite as well. His life seems to have sunk into a despond.

"Life for Mr. Bacanovic, who is 44 and recently completed his probation, has been a slow trudge through the slough of a legal and regulatory despond."

Link: The Broker Who Fell to Earth – New York Times

Posted October 13, 2006.

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verb

To lose all hope: despair, give up. See hope/despair.

noun

Utter lack of hope: despair, desperateness, desperation, despondence, despondency, hopelessness. See hope/despair.

Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.

The verb has one meaning:

Meaning #1: lose confidence or hope; become dejected

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