despair

n. 绝望；令人绝望的人或事

vi. 绝望，丧失信心

中文词源

despair 绝望

de-, 不，非，使相反。-spair, 希望，词源同speed, prosper. 即没有希望的，绝望。

despair: despair: [14] Etymologically, despair is literally ‘lack of hope’. The word comes via Old French desperer from Latin dēspērāre, a compound verb formed from the prefix dē-, denoting reversal, and spērāre, a derivative of the noun spēs ‘hope’. Its past participle, dēspērātus, produced English desperate [15], from which desperado is a 17th-century mock-Spanish coinage.
=> desperate
despair (n.): c. 1300, from Anglo-French despeir, Old French despoir, from desperer (see despair (v.)). Replaced native wanhope.
despair (v.): early 14c., from stem of Old French desperer "be dismayed, lose hope, despair," from Latin desperare "to despair, to lose all hope," from de- "without" (see de-) + sperare "to hope," from spes "hope" (see sperate). Related: Despaired; despairing; despairingly.

1. Don't let yourself despair; this will only make matters worse.: 不要想不开，这样只能使情况变得更糟。

3. As his energy drained away, his despair and worry grew.: 当他的精力耗尽时，他的绝望和担心也增加了。

4. I was in the depths of despair when the baby was sick.: 孩子生病时我陷入了绝望的深渊之中。

5. The night before the test I was overcome by fear and despair.: 考试前的晚上，恐惧和绝望让我内心无比惊慌。