Desperate

Quick meaning: Desperate is an adjective meaning In dire need (of something); having a dire need or desire.

Meaning

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

More Meanings

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

Example Sentences

a desperate disease; desperate fortune

desperate to eat; desperate for attention

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

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

Word Forms

• desperater
• desperatest
• desperates

Synonyms for desperate

Depending on context, synonyms include imperative, critical, hopeless, brave, dangerous, heroic.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include despairing, dire, hopeless, dangerous, unsafe, brave.

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