All 6 Uses

despair
in
Things Fall Apart
(Edited)

It always surprised him when he thought of it later that he did not sink under the load of despair.
p. 24.7

despair = distress (at not knowing how to improve a bad situation)
His father, Unoka, who was then an ailing man, had said to him during that terrible harvest month: "Do not despair."
p. 24.9 *

despair = give up hope
I know you will not despair. You have a manly and a proud heart.
p. 24.9
As she buried one child after another her sorrow gave way to despair and then to grim resignation.
p. 77.2

despair = distress (at not knowing how to improve a bad situation)
Her deepening despair found expression in the names she gave her children.
p. 77.3
The old man, Uchendu, saw clearly that Okonkwo had yielded to despair and he was greatly troubled.
p. 131.6 *

despair = hopelessness

editor's notes: In this context, yielded is a synonym for given in.

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)