Word of the Day

Sunday August 30, 2009

• Today's Word |
• Yesterday's Word |
• Previous Words |
• Subscribe Now

disconsolate [dis-KON-suh-lut]

adjective

1. Feeling beyond consolation; deeply dejected and dispirited; hopelessly sad; comfortless; filled with grief
2. Inspiring dejection; saddening; cheerless; as, the disconsolate darkness of the winter nights

• "By nature, I'm a 'glass half full' kind of person. I'm not one that would be disconsolate with the fact we haven't made more progress ... You can't put this thing off forever because if you don't achieve restoration success in a reasonably short period of time, then it can be very difficult."
  Pamela Wood, "'Oh my God, how did we fail?'", Capital, Dec 7, 2008
• The confectionary-snaffling mouse that rampaged through the house is gone, along with the bad memories, like that of a disconsolate four-year-old girl wailing "Daddy ate all my gummy bears!" Shame on you, mouse.
  David Ljunggren, "The blimp I used to be" , The Ottawa Citizen, Sep 18, 2008
• The leafless rose-bushes stand shivering in a shallow snow-drift, looking, poor things! As disconsolate as if they possessed a human consciousness of the dreary scene.
  Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) American novelist and short story writer. Twice Told Tales Snow-Flakes (1837)

Origin of the Word

Disconsolate, approximately 1374, derives from Medieval Latin disconsolatus, "comfortless," from Latin dis- "away" + consolatus, past particple of consolari; to console.