Definition of "despair"

despair

/dɪˈspɛə(ɹ)/

verb
third-person singular simple present despairs, present participle despairing, simple past and past participle despaired
1. (transitive, obsolete) To give up as beyond hope or expectation; to despair of.
  Quotations
  I would not despair the greatest design that could be attempted.
  1644, John Milton, Areopagitica; a Speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc’d Printing, to the Parlament of England, London: [s.n.]
  I sometimes despair of getting anything quite simple and honest done in this world by the help of men.
  1854 August 9, Henry D[avid] Thoreau, “Economy”, in Walden; or, Life in the Woods, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields
2. (transitive) To cause to despair.
  Quotations
  Thinking of what I was despairing about despaired me further
  2019, Tim Dee, Landfill
3. (intransitive, often with “of”) To be hopeless; to have no hope; to give up all hope or expectation.
  Quotations
  We despaired even of life.
  1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], 2 Corinthians 1:8
noun
countable and uncountable, plural despairs
1. Loss of hope; utter hopelessness; complete despondency.
2. That which causes despair.
3. That which is despaired of.