The quality or state of being despondent; the characteristic of feeling hopeless and discouraged.
From 'despondent' (adjective) plus the suffix '-ness', which creates nouns indicating a state or quality. This is a more formal way to discuss the condition of being despondent.
Despondentness appears in clinical descriptions and formal writing—it turns a feeling into a measurable state, which is why you see it in medical records or psychological case studies rather than everyday speech.
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