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Despond   Listen
noun
Despond  n.  Despondency. (Obs.) "The slough of despond."



verb
despond  v. i.  (past & past part. desponded; pres. part. desponding)  To give up the will, courage, or spirit; to be thoroughly disheartened; to lose all courage; to become dispirited or depressed; to take an unhopeful view. "I should despair, or at least despond." "Others depress their own minds, (and) despond at the first difficulty." "We wish that... desponding patriotism may turn its eyes hitherward, and be assured that the foundations of our national power still stand strong."
Synonyms: Despond, Dispair. Despair implies a total loss of hope, which despond does not, at least in every case; yet despondency is often more lasting than despair, or than desperation, which impels to violent action.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Despond" Quotes from Famous Books



... sallied forth to carry devastation and affright throughout the camps of innocent and unsuspecting blacklegs. As might be expected, it took about as many minutes as they had pounds to effect the ruin of the adventurers. Did they despond? Not they; a flaw existed in their calculations. They looked for it with care, and were torn from their employment only by the exigencies of the time, and the pressing demands of nature for immediate bread. Mr Wedge had from ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine - Volume 54, No. 338, December 1843 • Various

... of the nation was again directed to Egypt the scene was transformed. It was as though at the touch of an angel the dark morasses of the Slough of Despond had been changed to the breezy slopes of the Delectable Mountains. The Khedive and his Ministers lay quiet and docile in the firm grasp of the Consul-General. The bankrupt State was spending surpluses upon internal improvement. ...
— The River War • Winston S. Churchill

... of debt, 'Tis not the thing t' accept the terms, But dread th' event—the tale affirms. A Stag approach'd the Sheep, to treat For one good bushel of her wheat. "The honest Wolf will give his bond." At which, beginning to despond, "The Wolf (cries she) 's a vagrant bite. And you are quickly out of sight; Where shall I find or him or you Upon the day ...
— The Fables of Phdrus - Literally translated into English prose with notes • Phaedrus

... you had been—and yet to be lifted into the hope, or rather certainty, of seeing you next week pleased us extremely of course, and the more that your note through Lady Lyell had thrown us backward into a slough of despond and made me sceptical as to ...
— The Letters of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Volume II • Elizabeth Barrett Browning

... intense. Such condemnation, remorse, and utter despair as took hold of her: it could not be called repentance, for that has "A purpose of heart and endeavour after new obedience." She was in the Slough of Despond. The twilight had deepened into darkness, when sounds indicated ...
— Divers Women • Pansy and Mrs. C.M. Livingston


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