desperate
//ˈdɛs.p(ə.)ɹɪt//
Forms
- Comparative
- more desperate
- Superlative
- most desperate
- Plural
- desperates
Definitions
1.In dire need (of something); having a dire need or desire.
- I hadn't eaten in two days and was desperate for food.
2.Being filled with, or in a state of, despair; hopeless.
- I was so desperate at one point, I even went to see a loan shark.
3.Beyond hope, leaving little reason for hope; causing despair; extremely perilous.
- Are you really that desperate?
4.Involving or employing extreme measures, without regard to danger or safety; reckless due to hopelessness.
- He dove into the rushing waters in a desperate effort to save her life.
- “I knew very well that when the Peruvian Indian does anything wrong it is because he is forced to it by oppression and made desperate by abuse,” replied Lucia.
- In England his flute was not in request; there were no convents; and he was forced to have recourse to a series of desperate expedients.
1.A person in desperate circumstances or who is at the point of desperation, such as a down-and-outer, addict, etc.
Frequency
Overall
Uncommon· #3243
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Uncommon
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Rare
Related words
Word family
Etymology
From Middle English desperat(e) (“desperate”), borrowed from Latin dēspērātus, perfect passive participle of dēspērō (“to be without hope”), see -ate (adjective-forming suffix).