Desperate

/ˈdɛs.p(ə.)ɹɪt/ · adjective

Meaning

In dire need (of something); having a dire need or desire..

Definitions by Sense

1. In dire need (of something); having a dire need or desire.
2. Being filled with, or in a state of, despair; hopeless.
3. Beyond hope, leaving little reason for hope; causing despair; extremely perilous.
4. Involving or employing extreme measures, without regard to danger or safety; reckless due to hopelessness.
5. Extremely bad; outrageous, shocking; intolerable.
6. Intense; extremely intense.
7. (US dialectal) Desperately.
8. A person in desperate circumstances or who is at the point of desperation, such as a down-and-outer, addict, etc.

Example Sentences

I hadn't eaten in two days and was desperate for food.

desperate to eat; desperate for attention

I was so desperate at one point, I even went to see a loan shark.

Since his exile she hath despised me most, Forsworn my company and rail'd at me, That I am desperate of obtaining her.

“[…] She takes the whole thing with desperate seriousness. But the others are all easy and jovial—thinking about the good fare that is soon to be eaten, about the hired fly, about anything.”

But signalman Bridges was never to answer driver Gimbert's desperate question. A deafening, massive blast blew the wagon to shreds, the 44 high-explosive bombs exploding like simultaneous hits from the aircraft they should have been dropped from. The station was instantly reduced to bits of debris, and the line to a huge crater.

a desperate disease; desperate fortune

He dove into the rushing waters in a desperate effort to save her life.

Synonyms for desperate

Antonyms for desperate

Related Words

Word Forms

• more desperate
• desperater
• most desperate
• desperatest
• desperates

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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