despairing

English

Etymology

From Middle English despeyringe, equivalent to despair +‎ -ing.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɪˈspɛəɹ.ɪŋ/

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

despairing (not comparable)

1. Feeling, expressing, or caused by despair; hopeless.
   • 1964, Philip K. Dick, “FOUR”, in Clans of the Alphane Moon, United States: Ace Books, →OCLC; republished London: HarperCollinsPublishers, 1996, →ISBN, page 39:

     He was beginning to forget his burdening, despairing mood of a short while ago.

Derived terms

• despairingly
• despairingness
• undespairing

Translations

expressing despair

• Esperanto: malespera

Verb

despairing

1. present participle and gerund of despair

Noun

despairing (plural despairings)

1. A mood or display of despair.
   • 1831, Thomas Carlyle, “Sorrows of Teufelsdröckh”, in Sartor Resartus: The Life and Opinions of Herr Teufelsdröckh. […], London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, 2nd book, page 103:

     But what things soever passed in him, when he ceased to see it; what ragings and despairings soever Teufelsdröckh's soul was the scene of, he has the goodness to conceal under a quite opaque cover of Silence.

Anagrams

• depairings, diaperings, spinigrade