All 5 Uses

despair
in
Ethan Frome
(Edited)

These alterations of mood were the despair and joy of Ethan Frome.
Chpt 2

despair = distress (at not knowing how to improve a bad situation)
Now he thought she understood him, and feared; now he was sure she did not, and despaired.
Chpt 2 *

despaired = lost hope
To-night the pressure of accumulated misgivings sent the scale drooping toward despair, and her indifference was the more chilling after the flush of joy into which she had plunged him by dismissing Denis Eady.
Chpt 2 *

despair = hopelessness
His wife's attitude was unchanged, her face inexorable, and he was seized with the despairing sense of his helplessness.
Chpt 7

despairing = hopeless
Despair seized him at the thought of her setting out alone to renew the weary quest for work.
Chpt 7

despair = distress (at not knowing how to improve a bad situation)

Definitions:

(1) (despair as in: she felt despair)
hopelessness; or distress (such as extreme worry or sadness from feeling powerless to change a bad situation)
(2) (despair as in: do not despair)
lose hope or feel distress
(3) (despair as in: she was the despair of the team)
something that causes hopelessness or great distress
(4) (meaning too rare to warrant focus)