To demoralize someone means to drain their confidence, hope, or fighting spirit. When you're demoralized, you feel discouraged and defeated, like all your effort doesn't matter anymore. A soccer team might become demoralized after falling behind by four goals, losing the energy and determination they had at the start of the game. A student might feel demoralized after studying hard but still struggling on a test, wondering if trying harder will even help.

The word comes from morale, which means the spirit and confidence of a person or group. When an army's morale is high, soldiers believe in their mission and fight with determination. When morale is low, they lose heart. To demoralize someone is to break down that spirit and weaken their morale.

What makes something demoralizing is the feeling that success is impossible, that your efforts won't make a difference. A challenging math problem might frustrate you, but you become demoralized when you start thinking, “I'll never understand this” or “Why bother trying?” The distinction matters: difficulty tests you, but demoralization convinces you that testing yourself is pointless.

The opposite of being demoralized is feeling encouraged or inspired. Good coaches, teachers, and friends know how to prevent people from becoming demoralized by helping them see progress, remember past successes, and believe that improvement is possible.