different between dismay vs despondent

English

Etymology

From Middle English dismayen, from Anglo-Norman *desmaiier, alteration of Old French esmaier (“to frighten”), probably from Vulgar Latin *exmagare (“to deprive (someone) of strength, to disable”), from ex- + *magare (“to enable, empower”), from Proto-Germanic *magin?, *magan? (“might, power”), from Proto-Indo-European *meg?- (“to be able”). Akin to Old High German magan, megin (“power, might, main”), Old English mæ?en (“might, main”), Old High German magan, mugan (“to be powerful, able”), Old English magan (“to be able”). Cognate with Portuguese desmaiar (“to faint”). See also Portuguese esmagar, Spanish amagar. More at main, may.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d?s?me?/
• Rhymes: -e?

Verb

dismay (third-person singular simple present dismays, present participle dismaying, simple past and past participle dismayed)

1. To cause to feel apprehension; great sadness, or fear; to deprive of energy

   Synonyms: daunt, appall, terrify

   • 1611, King James Version, Josh. i. 9

     Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed.

   • What words be these? What fears do you dismay?

2. To render lifeless; to subdue; to disquiet.
3. To take dismay or fright; to be filled with dismay.
   • 1592, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 1, III. iii. 1:

     Dismay not, princes, at this accident,

Translations

Noun

dismay (uncountable)

1. A sudden or complete loss of courage and firmness in the face of trouble or danger; overwhelming and disabling terror; a sinking of the spirits

   Synonym: consternation

   • 1596-97, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act I Scene 3

     Come on: in this there can be no dismay;

     My ships come home a month before the day.

2. Condition fitted to dismay; ruin.

Translations

Anagrams

• yidams

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?