mindmap root((失落)) despondent implies a deep dejection arising from a conviction of the uselessness of further effort: ~ over the death of her father. despairing suggests the slipping away of all hope and often an accompanying despondency: ~ appeals for the return of the kidnapped boy. desperate implies such despair as prompts reckless action or violence in the face of anticipated defeat or frustration: one last ~ attempt to turn the tide of the war. hopeless suggests despair and the cessation of effort or resistance and often implies acceptance or resignation: the situation of the trapped miners is ~.