dispirit

dispirit — 動詞

  • dispiritpresent simple I / you / we / they
  • dispirits3rd person singular
  • dispiriting-ing form
  • dispiritedpast simple

1. to make someone lose hope, confidence, or the will to keep trying

1.動詞及物C1
釋義

使氣餒

剝奪某人的鬥志或熱情

to make someone lose hope, confidence, or the will to keep trying

例句

The constant rain dispirited the hikers, who had hoped for clear skies.

連日陰雨讓登山客感到氣餒，他們原本期盼天氣放晴。

common in weather-related contexts

Dr. Okonkwo was deeply dispirited by the funding board's rejection of his research proposal.

Okonkwo 博士因為研究計畫被審查委員會拒絕而深感沮喪。

passive: be dispirited by [something]

同義詞
  • discourage

    broader and less formal; covers both mild and severe loss of confidence

  • demoralize

    stronger, often used for groups (a team, an army) whose collective spirit is broken

  • dishearten

    very close in meaning; dishearten focuses on losing heart/courage, dispirit on losing drive/enthusiasm

  • deject

    less common; emphasises sadness rather than loss of will to act

反義詞
  • encourage

    the most direct opposite — to give hope and confidence

  • inspire

    stronger positive force — fills someone with the urge to act

  • hearten

    the direct antonym of dishearten; less common in everyday speech

文法句型

be dispirited by [something]

[something] dispirits [someone]

it dispirits [someone] to [verb]

用法筆記

Most commonly used in the passive form (be dispirited by/at) or with the impersonal it construction. The active voice is more common with inanimate subjects (e.g. a situation, a setback). Unlike discourage, dispirit seldom takes a direct personal object with an infinitive — you would not say "She dispirited him to try again."

常見錯誤

❌The bad news dispirited him to give up.
✅The bad news dispirited him.' or 'The bad news made him want to give up.
💡dispirit + infinitive is unnatural; use a different construction instead.
❌I felt dispirit after the meeting.
✅I felt dispirited after the meeting.
💡dispirit is a verb; the adjective form dispirited is needed after feel.
❌The teacher dispirited the students by giving difficult homework.' (using dispirit for a minor annoyance)
✅The teacher demotivated the students…
💡dispirit is too strong for everyday mild setbacks; use for serious loss of hope.