How to Use despondent in a Sentence

despondent

adjective
  • I had never seen them looking so despondent.
  • What about going out of your way to hold a door, or put a smile on a despondent stranger's face?
    — Courtney Astolfi, cleveland.com, 2 Jan. 2018
  • Verse was despondent after the game and his self-talk was brutal.
    — Jourdan Rodrigue, The Athletic, 17 Jan. 2025
  • At least two people lost their life savings and, despondent, then took their own lives.
    — Kevin Williams, CNBC, 10 Jan. 2026
  • England's football may be dull and despondent, but at least the rest of it makes some amount of sense.
    — SI.com, 6 Oct. 2017
  • An apocryphal story tells of a despondent man getting on a train.
    — Sandra Dallas, The Denver Post, 13 Apr. 2017
  • Some of the students had been despondent about being confined at home again.
    — New York Times, 20 June 2021
  • For the same reason many are still despondent, many have not forsaken the team of their youth.
    — Kevin Acee, sandiegouniontribune.com, 26 Apr. 2017
  • The boy soon dropped out of the program and became despondent and reserved at home, the suit says.
    — Cory Shaffer, cleveland, 4 Sep. 2020
  • Cris Collinsworth shook his head and was left despondent, but whatever.
    — Drew Magary, GQ, 6 Feb. 2018
  • If the new job or profession doesn’t work out, don’t become despondent.
    — Jack Kelly, Forbes, 1 Jan. 2023
  • Grant, 57, was despondent for the first few weeks of quarantine last spring.
    — Elizabeth Lawrence, PEOPLE.com, 28 Aug. 2020
  • Many of the prisoners are in ailing health and said to be growing despondent.
    — Carol Morello, Washington Post, 20 Sep. 2017
  • Neighbors told police the man had been despondent since the recent death of his father.
    — Joseph A. Gambardello, Philly.com, 9 Mar. 2018
  • The pregnant woman on the other end of the call sounded despondent.
    — Marisa Gerber, latimes.com, 16 May 2018
  • Despondent fans continued to tweet about the break-up on Monday.
    — Lisa Gutierrez, kansascity, 7 Aug. 2017
  • The 9-year-old looked both despondent and panicked, Monaque said.
    — Alice Yin, chicagotribune.com, 5 Oct. 2019
  • But the summer’s cascading crises in Haiti have left him despondent.
    — Deepa Fernandes, San Francisco Chronicle, 20 Sep. 2021
  • In Peele’s smart and sure hands, though, the film loops back around to become something probing and despondent, too.
    — Vanityfair.com, VanityFair.com, 23 Feb. 2017
  • In the scene, a despondent young boy hides beneath a piano with his dog, while his parents argue across the living room.
    — Time, 9 Jan. 2018
  • Fans are despondent given the nature of the Ravens’ two losses, but plenty has gone right for this team.
    — Jonas Shaffer, Baltimore Sun, 6 Oct. 2022
  • Despondent over the death of her second son, Terri Prather leaned on her oldest son.
    — Mark Curnutte, Cincinnati.com, 26 Apr. 2017
  • Feeling despondent, with little hope for the future or enjoyment of the present?
    — Danielle Marie Holland, Parents, 6 June 2026
  • Feeling despondent, with little hope for the future or enjoyment of the present?
    — Danielle Marie Holland, Parents, 29 Dec. 2025
  • Instead of getting despondent about it, it was used as a motivation.
    — Simon Johnson, New York Times, 1 Jan. 2026
  • As the election approached and then arrived (and passed), the messages became more despondent.
    — Sean Gallagher, Ars Technica, 14 June 2018
  • There are some people who are despondent about the voter fraud or election theft in 2020.
    — ABC News, 12 Nov. 2023
  • There are some people who are despondent about the voter fraud and election theft in 2020.
    — Paul Steinhauser, Fox News, 22 Aug. 2021
  • Many of the hundreds of millions of people who trek into an office will feel as despondent at the prospect as Martha did.
    — The Economist, 28 Sep. 2019
  • This loss, however, left the coach and his team despondent, dulled by the team’s low level of energy throughout the match.
    — Julia Poe, Pro Soccer USA, 3 Sep. 2019

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'despondent.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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