1
as in hopeless
emphasizing or expecting the worst
despairing predictions regarding the effects of global overpopulation
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in desperate
feeling or showing no hope
despairing applicants need to be reminded that most students are eventually accepted somewhere
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in grieving
to lose all hope or confidence
we despaired when we saw how little time we had left to complete our project
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of despairing
Nabil Salih, Time, 4 Dec. 2025
Her journal entries turn despairing and remorseful, colored by moral outrage.
—Katy Waldman, New Yorker, 10 Nov. 2025
The New Yorker, New Yorker, 31 Dec. 2025
These are the people who, despairing of finding their way out honestly, simply smash and bash their way through the corn willy-nilly.
—Tribune News Service, The Mercury News, 19 Oct. 2024
See All Example Sentences for despairing
Adjective
Some walls still carried the scars of shrapnel, and despairing alleys were submerged in rainwater.
—Verb
The book’s tone shifts from philosophical to playful to despairing to sensual, and on around again.
—Recent Examples of Synonyms for despairing
Adjective
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The Knights could only manage a hopeless heave from well beyond halfcourt at the buzzer.—
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Produced by Feingold’s Romantical and distributed by Level33, the film follows Leo Kadner (Feingold), a hopeless romantic New Yorker who reconnects with his childhood crush Eva Shapiro (Sarah Coffey) while preparing for his 31-year-old Bar Mitzvah.—
Adjective
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What begins as an energetic adventure spirals into a deadly confrontation with a menacing crocodile, transforming their content creation mission into a desperate fight for survival.—
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Trump is desperate to take Greenland.—
Verb
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Before the tournament, Damon's endurance coach, Patrick Peterson, was grieving the loss of his 14-year-old son, Armani Peterson, who was killed in the Stockton birthday party shooting that drew national attention.—
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On Netflix April 24, 2026 | Action Thriller A grieving woman testing her limits in the Australian wilderness is suddenly ensnared in a deadly game with a ruthless predator.—
Adjective
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The shootout in the finale felt ripped from another (lesser) series, Sarah Catherine Hook’s monologue as Piper, now wanting to wash Thailand off her, just a bit of a pat cheat (and a more cynical White on display).—
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Yes, our political leaders have given some of us reason to be resentful, cynical and even depressed.—
Adjective
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This is a no-win situation because one of us will end up unhappy.—
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The automaker spent much of the year undoing decisions made by the previous CEO, Carlos Tavares, who resigned at the end of 2024, as stakeholders in the company — from dealers to union rank and file — were upset with him and unhappy with his leadership.—
Verb
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The team labored in home losses to Houston and the Los Angeles Chargers, with Mahomes ultimately suffering a season-ending ACL injury in the fourth quarter of that setback against the Chargers.—
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And even amid his film’s despair, there was also dark humor, his characters’ profound suffering wryly relatable to all of us watching them in the theater.—
Adjective
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In Democratic cities, people demand 38 meetings and three dozen environmental assessments before tearing down a crack den to build a nursery for sad orphans.—
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Although there are infinitely many happy numbers there are also infinitely many sad ones.—
Verb
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Some people, friendship researchers told me, could be mourning a version of friendship that exists predominantly on social media and TV.—
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The Twiggs County community is mourning the loss of one of its beloved elementary school teachers.—
Cite this Entry
“Despairing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/despairing. Accessed 12 Jan. 2026.
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