desperate Hear it!

desperate Definition

des·per·ate (despər it)

adjective

    1. driven to or resulting from loss of hope; rash or violent because of despair a desperate criminal
    2. having a very great desire, need, etc. desperate for affection
  1. offering so little chance, as for improvement, as to cause despair; extremely dangerous or serious a desperate illness
  2. extreme; drastic in desperate need
  3. Archaic despairing; without hope

Etymology: ME desperat < L desperatus, pp. of desperare: see despair

desperate Related Forms

des·per·ately adverb des·per·ate·ness noun

desperate Synonyms

desperate

modif.

  1. Hopeless

    despairing, despondent, desirous, in extremities; see hopeless 2, sad 1.

  2. Reckless

    incautious, frantic, wild; see careless 1, rash.

  3. Extreme

    great, drastic, acute, dire; see extreme 2, urgent 1. See syn. study at hopeless.

desperate Usage Examples

Modifying Another Word

increasingly: Worse still, he ignores her increasingly desperate demands for some reaction to her.

Preposition: for

  • outfit: I was getting desperate for an ancient soldier outfit for my son and found Charlie Crow on the internet.
  • cash: These are no mean street kids, desperate for cash in an urban ghetto.

Infinitive complement

  • cling: Perhaps they are in a state of shock - desperate to cling to the old world in the face of such horror.
  • escape: Will Mark, desperate to escape, have the nerve to leave?
  • impress: I was about 19 years old, very impressionable and desperate to impress.
  • regain: They are desperate to regain rates of profit which match their non-European competitors.
  • avoid: Now, they've thrown a moral fig-leaf to all those UN countries who were desperate to avoid doing anything brave.
  • get: Desperate to get things under way, he hastily sprung the starting tape.

Modifies a noun

  • plea: Brandon's desperate plea for help Treble tilt could be last throw Whickham's Vase glory remembered Hobson's choice was for England.. .
  • attempt: A sign of the times, or a desperate attempt to maintain interest in an idea rapidly losing steam?
  • housewife: To me she looks like a desperate housewife in need of a decent meal.
  • strait: The fighting was protracted and bloody; but, as the day wore on, the English found themselves in desperate straits.
  • plight: They should drop their obsession with hunting and focus on the desperate plight of Britain's farmers.
  • bid: It had its Tony Blair figure call a snap election in a desperate bid to hang on to power.

Used with adjective complement

  • seem: Wanda Jean ' s audience seemed desperate to talk about anything other then the powerful documentary we were there to imbibe.
  • become: With each passing day the position for NATO becomes more desperate.
  • feel: He said: " We are all feeling desperate about losing.
  • get: With Leicester getting desperate, we could finally laugh at them.
  • grow: Some sections experience marginal but very real gains, while others see their already miserable conditions grow even more desperate.

Browse dictionary entries near desperate

  1. desperado
  2. despatch
  3. despairing
  4. despair of
  5. despair
  6. desorb
  7. desolation
  8. desolate
  9. Desmoulins
  10. desmosome
  1. desperately
  2. desperation
  3. despicable
  4. despise
  5. despite
  6. despiteful
  7. despoil
  8. despoliation
  9. despond
  10. despondency