What Does Despair Mean?

The term despair means loss of hope or hopelessness. Despair is also the name of a famous novel written by Vladimir Nabokov it was initially published as a serial Sovremennye Zapiski in the year 1934.

It was later on in the year 1936 published as a book and translated to the English language by the year 1937. Later on by the year 1978 it was taken up as a movie subject and the movie was filmed and later on premiered at The Cannes Film Festival, it was directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder.

Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov was a well known Russian-American writer. His initial novels were written in the Russian language, but later on rose to fame for his masterly prose style which he composed in the English language.

The word despair refers to a state in which everything seems to be wrong and the eventual outcome of the situation will also turn out to be disastrous. It is a negative way of thinking. The opposite of despair is hope. The synonyms of the word despair are misery, desolation, hopelessness, anguish, gloom, depression, despondency and dejection.
     
To despair is a verb which means to abandon hope, to give up hope or to lose heart in the face of a difficult situation. Despair is also the name of one of the Endless. The Endless are a group of fictional characters. They appear in the comic book series The Sandman by Neil Gaiman.

When the term despair is used by existentialists, it refers to the fact that all the choices made by people are based on information which is uncertain and an understanding of the world which is not complete.

Despair is a loss of hope; hopelessness.  Someone or something that causes hopelessness: He is the despair of his mother.   To lose, give up, or be without hope.  You may have clinical depression as well. You may find comfort in prayer and a therapist. Good luck to you.