This is the 9523rd most frequent French word.
décourageant
Disheartening; discouraging.
In this sentence, 'décourageant' is used as an adjective to describe the project, emphasizing the feeling of initial difficulty or overwhelming nature.
Le projet semblait décourageant au début, mais nous avons réussi à le compléter.
The project seemed discouraging at first, but we managed to complete it.
Here, 'décourageant' again acts as an adjective, modifying 'expérience' and highlighting the nature of the circumstance as demoralizing.
C'était une expérience décourageante de voir tant de difficultés sur notre chemin.
It was a discouraging experience to see so many difficulties on our path.
In this instance, 'décourageant' qualifies 'obstacle', depicting the obstacle as daunting or off-putting.