If you are discouraged, you no longer have the confidence you need to keep going. The work is still there, but the heart has gone out of it: a bad result, a closed door, people who do not believe in you. We say it of a person, and sometimes of a whole group. Teachers use it a lot: Don’t be discouraged. Though actually, people also say it for a small dip — a low mark, a rainy afternoon — when they will try again tomorrow. It is not as strong as I give up. Someone can discourage you (take the heart out of you, or try to talk you out of a plan), and then you feel discouraged. The -ed word is about how you feel.