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Definition of "despond" [de•spond]

  • To become disheartened or discouraged. (verb-intransitive)
  • Despondency: "The outward show of fight masked a spreading inner despond at the White House” ( Newsweek). (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "despond" in a sentence
  • "D.H. Hill's division was at White Oak Swamp Creek, a slough, and one of "despond" to us, draining to the Chickahominy."
  • "With all its beauty and comfort it would become to him almost inevitably a slough, both of "despond" and of dissipation -- dissipation of the worst and most hopeless kind, wherein the victim's ruling motive is to get rid of self."
  • "As the despond deepens, some News Corp shareholders would like a more ordinary, conventional company to invest in."