despairs
Abandons all optimism
Despairs is the third-person singular form of the verb despair, meaning to lose all hope or feel that a situation is beyond remedy.
She despairs of ever finding meaningful work.
The plural noun despairs, though uncommon, refers to multiple instances or types of hopelessness.
The word carries a sense of profound emotional defeat, stronger than mere discouragement—when someone despairs, they've reached a point where effort seems futile.
State without hope
- anguishIntense mental suffering
- desperationUtter loss of hope
- desolationState of complete emptiness
- miseryIntense prolonged distress
grief · torment · suffering · bleakness · darkness · gloom · despondency · wretchedness
Lack of significance
- nihilismRejection of objective meaning
- voidWithout legal effect
- absurdityWildly illogical quality
- purposelessnessState of lacking intention
alienation · isolation · emptiness · nothingness · abyss · darkness · futility · disillusionment
Failure or decomposition
- collapseSudden structural failure
- rock-bottomLowest possible level
- surrenderCease resistance, yield
- resignationVoluntary relinquishment of position
capitulation · abandonment · defeat · helplessness · overwhelm · paralysis · spiraling · drowning
hopelessness
State without hope
- anguishIntense mental suffering
- desperationUtter loss of hope
- desolationState of complete emptiness
misery · grief · torment · suffering · bleakness · darkness · gloom · despondency · wretchedness · agony
meaninglessness
Lack of significance
purposelessness · alienation · isolation · emptiness · nothingness · abyss · darkness · futility · disillusionment · weltschmerz
breakdown
Failure or decomposition
- collapseSudden structural failure
- rock-bottomLowest possible level
- surrenderCease resistance, yield
resignation · capitulation · abandonment · defeat · helplessness · overwhelm · paralysis · spiraling · drowning · sinking
lamentation
Passionate expression of grief
- tragedyDisastrous or sorrowful event
- pathosPity-evoking quality
- catharsisPurification through emotional expression
soliloquy · lament · dirge · elegy · mourning · weeping · wailing · gnashing · rending · sackcloth
despairshopes
Positive expectations held
expects · believes · anticipates · trusts · assumes
despairsrejoices
Feels and shows elation
exults · takes heart · keeps faith · triumphs · celebrates
despairsperseveres
Continues despite difficulty
persists · carries on · never gives up · endures · strives
- pit of despairState of profound hopelessness
- deep despair
- romantic despairAnguish over failed love
- existential despairAnguish at life's meaninglessness
- climate despairHopelessness about environmental collapse
- compare and despairJudging yourself against others negatively