slough of despond

noun
/ˈslaʊ əv ˈdɛspɒnd/UK/ˈslaʊ əv dɛˈspɑnd/US

Etymology

From the name of a bog in The Pilgrim's Progress (1678) by English writer and preacher John Bunyan (1628–1688).

Definitions

  1. A dreary bog or marsh.

  2. A state of disheartening hopelessness

    A state of disheartening hopelessness; pit of despair.

    • Thus the colony - for owing to its enormous area the Territory can claim to be considered something more than a settlement - was at last attracting notice, and rising from the Slough of Despond into which different causes had placed it.
    • Only after he had ceased dreaming of them and thrown off his crushing burden of transcendental morality – only thus and then could he hope to rise out of the slough of despond in which he wallowed.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for slough of despond. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA