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dismay

dis·may

UK/dɪsˈmeɪ/ US/dɪˈsmeɪ/ uncommon
noun (2) verb (2)

noun

1.

the feeling of despair in the face of obstacles

Synonyms
2.

fear resulting from the awareness of danger

Synonyms

verb

1.

lower someone''s spirits; make downhearted

  • “These news depressed her”
  • “The bad state of her child”
Synonyms
Antonyms
2.

fill with apprehension or alarm; cause to be unpleasantly surprised

  • “I was horrified at the thought of being late for my interview”
  • “The news of the executions horrified us”
Synonyms

Origin

From Middle English dismayen, from Anglo-Norman *desmaiier, alteration of Old French esmaier (“to frighten”), probably from Vulgar Latin *exmagare (“to deprive (someone) of strength, to disable”), from ex- + *magare (“to enable, empower”), from Proto-Germanic *maginą, *maganą (“might, power”), from Proto-Indo-European *megʰ- (“to be able”). Akin to Old High German magan, megin (“power, might, main”), Old English mæġen (“might, main”), Old High German magan, mugan (“to be powerful, able”), Old English magan (“to be able”). Cognate with Portuguese desmaiar (“to faint”) and Spanish esmayar. See also Portuguese esmagar, Spanish amagar. More at main, may.

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.