Hopelessness somehow praised (7)
I believe the answer is:
despair
'hopelessness' is the definition.
(despair is a kind of hopelessness)
'somehow praised' is the wordplay.
'somehow' indicates anagramming the letters.
'praised' is an anagram of 'DESPAIR'.
(Other definitions for despair that I've seen before include "Complete absence of hope" , "First appearance" , "Lose or lack hope" , "Opposite of 10" , "A spider (anag.)" .)