| / English Dictionary |
DESPAIRING
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Arising from or marked by despair or loss of hope
Example:
her desperate screams
Synonyms:
despairing; desperate
Classified under:
Similar:
hopeless (without hope because there seems to be no possibility of comfort or success)
II. (verb)
Sense 1
-ing form of the verb despair
Context examples:
Jo gave a despairing groan, and Meg laughed outright, while Beth let her bread burn as she watched the fun with interest.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
The rotten bark gave way under his feet, and with a despairing yelp he pitched down the rounded crescent, smashed through the leafage and stalks of a small bush, and in the heart of the bush, on the ground, fetched up in the midst of seven ptarmigan chicks.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
"I am sick, very sick," he said with a despairing gesture.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
But he is generally melancholy and despairing, and sometimes he gnashes his teeth, as if impatient of the weight of woes that oppresses him.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
I thought and thought what should be my next move, but my brain seemed on fire, and I waited with a despairing feeling growing over me.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
I confided all to my aunt when I got home; and in spite of all she could say to me, went to bed despairing.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
With a despairing glance at her set, she obeyed.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
I waved my hand to him, and he answered the greeting, but with a wave that was hopeless and despairing.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
It was his despairing cry, when he found that I was proof against all his entreaties, which reached your ears, Charles, and caused you to open your chamber door and to see me as I returned to my room.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
How kind and generous you are! every one else believes in her guilt, and that made me wretched, for I knew that it was impossible: and to see every one else prejudiced in so deadly a manner rendered me hopeless and despairing.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
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