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dis·heart·en

dishearten

pronunciation:
dIs har tn
part of speech: transitive verb
inflections: disheartened, disheartening, disheartens
definition: to depress or destroy the hope or confidence of; discourage; dispirit.
After getting several rejections, he was disheartened and thought he'd never get his writing published.
synonyms:
daunt, deject, discourage, dismay, dispirit, unnerve
antonyms:
embolden, encourage, exhilarate, hearten
similar words:
chill, cow, crush, depress, distress, intimidate
derivations: dishearteningly (adv.), disheartenment (n.)