frequently_asked_questions_files/Oxford Thesaurus.pdf

imprudence, heedlessness: Penniless and half-starved, he was
driven to desperation and stole a loaf of bread. 2 despair,
anxiety, anguish, anxiousness, despondency, depression,
dejection, discouragement, defeatism, pessimism, hopelessness,
distress, misery, melancholy, wretchedness, gloom, sorrow: In a
final act of desperation, he attempted suicide.
despicable
adj. contemptible, below or beneath or beyond contempt or scorn
or disdain, mean, detestable, base, low, scurvy, vile, sordid,
wretched, miserable, ignoble, ignominious, shabby; shameful,
shameless, reprehensible: He is a thoroughly despicable person
and you should have nothing more to do with him.
despise v. disdain, scorn, look down on or upon, be contemptuous of,
sneer at, spurn, contemn; hate, loathe, detest, abhor: She
despised her servants and treated them badly. He despised anyone
who had not been to university.
despite prep. in spite of, notwithstanding, undeterred by, regardless
of, in the face or teeth of, in defiance of, without
considering, without thought or consideration or regard for,
ignoring: We went sailing despite the fact that gales had been
forecast.
despondent
adj. dejected, sad, sorrowful, unhappy, melancholy, blue,
depressed, down, downcast, downhearted, low, morose, miserable,
disheartened, discouraged, dispirited, low-spirited, down in the
mouth, Colloq down in the dumps: He's been despondent since she
went away.
despot n. absolute ruler, dictator, tyrant, oppressor, autocrat:
History has painted Ivan the Terrible as one of the cruellest
despots of all time.
despotic adj. dictatorial, tyrannical, oppressive, authoritarian,
imperious, domineering, totalitarian, absolute, autocratic,
arbitrary: The country was under the despotic rule of a callous
tyrant.
despotism n. autocracy, monocracy, autarchy, totalitarianism, absolutism,
dictatorship, tyranny, oppression, suppression, repression: She