All 14 Uses

despair
in
The Fellowship of the Ring
(Auto-generated)

In the end, gathering his courage, he leaped over Gollum in the dark, and fled away down the passage, pursued by his enemy's cries of hate and despair: Thief, thief!
Chpt Prol.

despair = distress (at inability to improve a bad situation)
Wanderers in the shadowed land despair not!
Chpt 1.6

despair = give up hope
'Don't despair!' said Strider.
Chpt 1.12 *
Even so they often despaired of getting their pony up, or indeed of finding a path for themselves, burdened as they were.
Chpt 1.12

despaired = lost hope
There we had rumour of him, and we guess that he dwelt there long in the dark hills; but we never found him, and at last I despaired.
Chpt 2.2
And then in my despair I thought again of a test that might make the finding of Gollum unneeded.
Chpt 2.2

despair = distress (at not knowing how to improve a bad situation)
I, too, despaired at last, and I began my homeward journey.
Chpt 2.2

despaired = lost hope
That is the path of despair.
Chpt 2.2

despair = hopelessness
'Despair, or folly?' said Gandalf.
Chpt 2.2
It is not despair,
Chpt 2.2
...for despair is only for those who see the end beyond all doubt.
Chpt 2.2 *
They despaired, until I returned and told them that the drift was little wider than a wall.
Chpt 2.3

despaired = lost hope
He sat with his head bowed, either in despair or in anxious thought.
Chpt 2.4

despair = hopelessness
All shall love me and despair!†
Chpt 2.7

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)