✅ Despondent describes feeling or expressing a strong sense of hopelessness or discouragement (I felt despondent after getting bad grades).

✅ Morose describes being gloomy, sullen, or bad-tempered (She was unusually morose during the journey).

✅ Morose and despondent both describe feeling gloomy and unhappy.

✅ Despondent suggests a very strong sense of dejectedness, whereas morose emphasizes a more grumpy kind of gloom.

✅ Thrilling describes something that causes you to feel a sudden strong emotion, like fear or excitement (a thrilling plot).

✅ Rousing describes something that is exciting—something that fascinates and enthralls you (a rousing campaign).

✅ Both of these words describe things that might be exciting or especially interesting. They usually describe things like movies or books but can also describe a person’s personality, behavior, or conversation (He was a thrilling speaker; They were a rousing player on the field).

✅ Instinctual describes something that happens due to instinct or as if from instinct (an instinctual fear of fire).

✅ Involuntary describes something that is unintentional or that happens unconsciously (an involuntary wince).

✅ Both these terms describe things that happen without conscious thought. Instinctual suggests unthinking responses that could be shared by others (It’s instinctual to run when being chased).

✅ Involuntary is more general and suggests any kind of unconscious response (I couldn’t stop my palms from sweating when I was called on by the teacher, it was completely involuntary).