different between despondent vs wretched

English

Etymology

From Latin despondere (“to give up, to abandon”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /d??sp?nd?nt/

Adjective

despondent (comparative more despondent, superlative most despondent)

1. In low spirits from loss of hope or courage.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:sad

   • Thanks to that penny he had just spent so recklessly [on a newspaper] he would pass a happy hour, taken, for once, out of his anxious, despondent, miserable self. It irritated him shrewdly to know that these moments of respite from carking care would not be shared with his poor wife, with careworn, troubled Ellen.

Derived terms

• despondency

Synonyms

• crestfallen
• despairing
• disconsolate
• disheartened
• dejected
• downcast
• gloomy
• heartsick
• hopeless
• miserable
• sad

Antonyms

• cheerful
• hopeful

Translations

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /de?s?pon.dent/, [d?e?s??p?n?d??n?t?]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /des?pon.dent/, [d??s?p?n?d??n?t?]

Verb

d?spondent

1. third-person plural present active indicative of d?sponde?

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English wrecched, equivalent to wretch +? -ed.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???t??d/

Adjective

wretched (comparative wretcheder or more wretched, superlative wretchedest or most wretched)

1. Very miserable; feeling deep affliction or distress.

   I felt wretched after my wife died.
2. Worthless; paltry; very poor or mean; miserable.

   The street was full of wretched beggars dressed in rags.
3. (obsolete) Hatefully contemptible; despicable; wicked.
4. (informal) Used to express dislike of or annoyance towards the mentioned thing.

   Will you please stop playing that wretched trombone!

Usage notes

• Nouns to which "wretched" is often applied: woman, state, life, condition, creature, man, excess, person, place, world, being, situation, weather, slave, animal, city, village, health, house, town.

Synonyms

• (very miserable): See Thesaurus:sad or Thesaurus:lamentable
• (worthless): See Thesaurus:insignificant
• (hatefully contemptible): See Thesaurus:despicable

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Further reading

• wretched in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• wretched in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “wretched”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??t?t/
• Rhymes: -?t?t

Verb

wretched

1. Misspelling of retched.