despair
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
His Peter fends off despair by insisting that he’s fine.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2026
But remember, despair isn’t activism—it’s just another impediment to progress.
From Slate ● Jul. 27, 2026
She invests the song’s complex storyline of submission and rebellion with pointed irony here and genuine despair there.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 11, 2026
If despair is weighing you down, Miyazaki’s films and inheritors like “Avatar: The Last Airbender” are powerful antidotes.
From Salon ● Jul. 8, 2026
Akira tried her mom’s cell phone, and she listened to it ring and ring and ring with growing despair.
From "Two Degrees" by Alan Gratz
When her TV show is canceled, the actress does what you might predict given the movie’s exaggerated look and tone: She despairs at what she sees in the mirror and reaches for an outrageous solution.
From New York Times ● May 24, 2024
Kakar despairs at the plight of Afghans who remain in Pakistan.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 28, 2024
Then Isabel’s despairs stack, pressing her to expand her inquiry beyond the United States and diagnose history’s gravest injuries.
From Salon ● Jan. 26, 2024
Pedro Sánchez, the contractor, who also holds the honorary post of mayor of San Bartolomé, likewise despairs of the weak dollar that has slowed construction.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 5, 2023
But without academic credentials, he despairs of ever getting published in a scholarly journal.
From "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell
Fans have cheered and despaired at the World Cup's most exciting - and nail-biting - moments in pubs, watch parties and sitting rooms across the country.
From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026
But closer to the high-security perimeter, a crowd of worshippers despaired as police officers blocked their route.
From Barron's ● Jun. 7, 2026
“I think the game is pretty near up,” Washington despaired to his brother.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 21, 2025
You despaired because buying merchandise—both Fanatics’ own and products it retails—did not satiate your appetite to do e-commerce with this company.
From Slate ● Mar. 7, 2025
When the Bureau promoted him in 1944 to the Soviet Espionage Division, in Washington, DC, Lamphere despaired at first.
From "Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia" by Marc Favreau
Parents, siblings and best friends are interviewed by Ms. Borgman, all singing the praises of the deceased but almost uniformly despairing of the results of the case, a plea deal to avoid the death penalty.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
Crowther shares a few scraps of despairing, Plathian verse, but almost entirely neglects her unfinished posthumous memoir, published in 1974 as “My Story.”
From Los Angeles Times ● May 25, 2026
Tippett, a former NHS England boss who led on personalised care, told the BBC the result was "despairing".
From BBC ● May 19, 2026
But Nina soon found herself despairing, once she realized she could not leave her hiding place.
From Barron's ● Feb. 2, 2026
They and the coyotes lived clever, despairing, submarginal lives.
From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck
Vocabulary lists containing despair
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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A Long Walk to Water
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The New SAT: Words to Capture Tone
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