despair

Compared meaning: a bad feeling after hearing bad news (noun).

比较义项：遭遇不幸或坏消息时产生的负面情绪（名词）。

• despair 本词

  Despair describes deep, often lasting hopelessness — a sense that a bad situation cannot improve, usually felt after prolonged suffering or repeated failure.

  despair 表示深切、往往持久的绝望感——觉得糟糕的处境已经无法好转，通常是在经历长期痛苦或反复失败之后产生的。

  Years of failed treatments left her in a state of utter despair.

  多年治疗失败之后，她陷入了彻底绝望的状态。

• dismay

  Dismay describes a sudden, usually milder reaction of shock and disappointment to an unwelcome event, often in the set phrase 'to sb's dismay'.

  dismay 表示因意外的坏消息而产生的、程度通常较轻的震惊和失望，常用于固定搭配“to sb's dismay”（令某人沮丧、惊愕的是）。

  To her dismay, the shop had sold out of the last cake before she arrived.

  令她沮丧的是，商店在她到达之前就已经卖光了最后一块蛋糕。

Despair and dismay are negative feelings after something bad happens, but despair is stronger and longer-lasting, close to hopelessness. Dismay is lighter and sudden, like shock after unwelcome news. Their verb meanings (feel hopeless; shock someone) are not compared here.

despair 和 dismay 都表示面对不好的事情时产生的负面情绪，但语气和程度不同：despair 更强烈、更持久，接近“绝望”；dismay 更轻、更突然，是受到打击后的“震惊、沮丧”。这里不比较二者作动词时的用法（despair 表示“感到绝望”，dismay 表示“使某人惊愕”）。