Select the ANTONYM of the given word. DESPAIR

Concept

An antonym is a word whose meaning is the direct opposite of a given word along the same idea. To find one, first fix the core meaning of the target word, then choose the option that expresses the reverse of that same idea — not merely a word that is negative or unrelated.

Application

DESPAIR means the complete loss of hope — a feeling that nothing good will happen. Its meaning lives on the axis of hope vs. hopelessness. The opposite end of that same axis is the expectation that something good will happen, i.e. hope.

Contrast

• Hope — belief that a good outcome will come; this sits at the opposite end of the hope/hopelessness axis from despair, so it is the antonym.

• Detest — to strongly dislike someone or something; this is about aversion, a different axis altogether from hope.

• Abandon — to leave behind or give up on something; an action concerning desertion, not the emotional state of hopelessness.

• Reject — to refuse or turn down something offered; about refusal, again unrelated to the loss-of-hope idea.