slough of despond

slough of despond

A state of severe depression. The phrase originated in John Bunyan's 17th-century novel A Pilgrim's Progress. I started going to therapy once I felt myself slipping into the slough of despond.
See also: of, slough
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
See also:
  • beat (one) to the punch
  • beat someone to the punch
  • beat to the punch
  • all things to all men, to be
  • be all things to all men
  • be all things to all men/people
  • all quiet on the Potomac
  • deal (one) out of (something)
  • deal out of
  • another lie nailed to the counter
References in periodicals archive
Plodding through Bunyan's Slough of Despond seemed preferable.
Their straightforward embodiments of aspects of human nature and abstract concepts, through such characters as Knowledge, Beauty, Strength, and Death in Everyman and such places as Vanity Fair and the Slough of Despond in The Pilgrim's Progress, are typical examples of the techniques of personification allegory.
I've never been a painter, but in a slough of despond, or when overcome by paralyzing lethargy--for moments, hours, days--psychically wired to the TV set, my only friend, I've had occasion to be an armchair painter, thanks to Mr.
Similar to the Slough of Despond, the No-Molar is comprised of the CEO, the legal department and the service director.
Obstinate remains behind, but Pliable goes with Christian until he deserts him at the Slough of Despond.
He wanders into the Slough of Despond, from which he cannot get out because of the weight of the burden of sin on his back, until at last he is rescued by Help.
Peter Jewell, via email Cheer up, Paddy CAN I cheer up my old mate Paddy Shennan, who appears to be in a slough of despond over the referendum result (ECHO, June 25).
In 1890, for instance, the Cardiff Argus declared: "No place more closely resembled Bunyan's Slough of Despond than Cadoxton and Barry."
While you're in this slough of despond you're not letting your boyfriend enjoy you and you're not letting your relationship reach its full potential.
So when Nick found himself unwillingly unemployed for the third time, he didn't waste precious moments meandering through the slough of despond - or even just sitting sadly in the pub.
Just over a fortnight ago you would probably have felt confident putting your house on Celtic to win this, as most Motherwell fans had taken up residence in the Slough of Despond after watching their team scrape just five points from their first 10 matches.
Pollini and Brendel are both remarkablyinteresting pianists for whom middle age is neither a slough of despond nor a repetition ad nauseam of earlier triumphs.
Yet from this slough of despond, Meteorites unexpectedly began to take shape.
Now, though, the modern parent is made of sterner stuff and, as a survey last week revealed, the "empty-nest" phenomena, whereby parents whose children have left home sink into the slough of despond, has been exposed as the laughable myth it surely is.
A large portion of the electorate prefers to blame George Bush for the current slough of despond in Iraq, but there are few people who don't remember the British Prime Minister seeming to outshine him in the argument for the war, and so his reputation has suffered by association.