Definitions

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective causing dejection; discouraging. Opposite of encouraging.
  • adjective causing dejection or depression.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Lowering the morale of; making despondent or depressive; disheartening.
  • verb Present participle of dispirit.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective destructive of morale and self-reliance

Etymologies

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Examples

  • To say that these last years have been dispiriting is an understatement.

    Balkinization 2006

  • The 71-year-old justice labeled as "dispiriting" the decision to refuse entry through the front steps, although visitors may still leave the building that way.

    Justices lament closing main entrance to high court building 2010

  • Breyer, lamenting the court's "dispiriting" decision, said he knows of no other supreme court in the world that has closed its main entrance.

    Supreme Court closes its front doors to the public 2010

  • Breyer said he knows of no other supreme court in the world that has closed its main entrance, and lamented the court's "dispiriting" decision.

    Supreme Court to close front doors for security reasons 2010

  • Breyer, lamenting the court's "dispiriting" decision, said he knows of no other supreme court in the world that has closed its main entrance.

    Supreme Court closes its front doors to the public 2010

  • No Greg, YOU stop with the "dispiriting" nonsense and the fraudulent numbers that Clinton is pushing.

    The Latest Popular Vote Counts 2009

  • It is kind of dispiriting to realize how batshit a lot of the Obombers really are.

    Hillary Hits Critics For Taking Her RFK Assassination Remarks "Out Of Context" 2009

  • And my children's friends have suggested they find reading "serious news" "dispiriting" because it makes them feel helpless.

    t r u t h o u t 2010

  • The story describes a recent exercise involving "top Pentagon leaders" that simulated their response to "a sophisticated cyberattack aimed at paralyzing the nation's power grids, its communications systems or its financial networks" - with "dispiriting" results:

    ArmsControlWonk 2010

  • The story describes a recent exercise involving "top Pentagon leaders" that simulated their response to "a sophisticated cyberattack aimed at paralyzing the nation's power grids, its communications systems or its financial networks" - with "dispiriting" results:

    ArmsControlWonk 2010

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