despair
n. uncountablen. the feeling that there is no hope left and that a situation will never get better. You feel this when you have lost all confidence in the future.
n. the complete loss or absence of hope. Often used to describe a profound emotional state resulting from repeated failure or extreme hardship.
He felt a sense of despair after losing his job.
The long winter and lack of food drove the isolated villagers to the brink of despair.
In his later poetry, the author explores the tension between the quiet despair of aging and the persistent, irrational hope for a legacy.
From Middle English dispeir, from Anglo-Norman despeir and Old French desperer (from Latin dēspērō, dēspērāre), or desesperer, from des- (“dis-”) + esperer (“hope”). See also desperate. Displaced native Old English ormōdnes (“despair”) and Old English ortrīewan (“to despair”).
Commonly functions as the object of the preposition 'in' ('in despair') or follows the verb 'sink into'.