despondency
nounUK /dɪˈspɒndənsi/
Etymology From Latin dēspondentia, from dēspondēns + -ia. Equivalent to despondent + -ency.
1
The loss of hope or confidence; despair or dejection.
- Not everyone succumbed to such nostalgia and despondency. Some saw the existential threat to Scots as a call to document what remained.2023, Clive Young, “chapter three: From Union to Devolution”, in Unlocking Scots: The Secret Life of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Luath Press Limited, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 93:
2
A feeling of depression or disheartenment.
- He kissed her brow, and left her. She watched him unconsciously, till the winding walk hid him from her sight, and then sank back on her seat, every nerve relaxing from its high-strained excitement into utter and still despondency.1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XV, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 127: