What does DESPERATE mean?

Definitions for DESPERATE
ˈdɛs pər ɪt, -prɪtdes·per·ate

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word DESPERATE.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. desperateadjective

    a person who is frightened and in need of help

    "they prey on the hopes of the desperate"

  2. despairing, desperateadjective

    arising from or marked by despair or loss of hope

    "a despairing view of the world situation"; "the last despairing plea of the condemned criminal"; "a desperate cry for help"; "helpless and desperate--as if at the end of his tether"; "her desperate screams"

  3. desperate, do-or-die(a)adjective

    desperately determined

    "do-or-die revolutionaries"; "a do-or-die conflict"

  4. desperateadjective

    (of persons) dangerously reckless or violent as from urgency or despair

    "a desperate criminal"; "taken hostage of desperate men"

  5. desperate, heroicadjective

    showing extreme courage; especially of actions courageously undertaken in desperation as a last resort

    "made a last desperate attempt to reach the climber"; "the desperate gallantry of our naval task forces marked the turning point in the Pacific war"- G.C.Marshall; "they took heroic measures to save his life"

  6. desperateadjective

    showing extreme urgency or intensity especially because of great need or desire

    "felt a desperate urge to confess"; "a desperate need for recognition"

  7. desperate, direadjective

    fraught with extreme danger; nearly hopeless

    "a desperate illness"; "on all fronts the Allies were in a desperate situation due to lack of materiel"- G.C.Marshall; "a dire emergency"

Wiktionary

  1. desperateadjective

    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.

  2. desperateadjective

    Reckless abandon in the pursuit of an extreme desire.

  3. desperateadjective

    Extremely intense.

  4. Etymology: From desperatus, past participle of despero

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. DESPERATEadjective

    Etymology: desperatus, Latin.

    Since his exile she hath despis’d me most;
    Forsworn my company, and rail’d at me,
    That I am desperate of obtaining her. William Shakespeare.

    Can you think, my lords,
    That any Englishman dare give me counsel,
    Or be a known friend ’gainst his highness’ pleasure,
    Though he be grown so desperate to be honest,
    And live a subject. William Shakespeare, Henry VIII.

    He who goes on without any care or thought of reforming, such an one we vulgarly call a desperate person, and that sure is a most damning sin. Henry Hammond, Pract. Catech.

    These debts may be well called desperate ones; for a mad man owes them. William Shakespeare, Timon.

    In a part of Asia the sick, when their case comes to be thought desperate, are carried out and laid on the earth, before they are dead, and left there. John Locke.

    I am a man of desperate fortunes, that is, a man whose friends are dead; for I never aimed at any other fortune than in friends. Alexander Pope, to Swift.

    Were it not the part of a desperate physician to wish his friend dead, rather than to apply the best endeavours of his skill for his recovery? Edmund Spenser, State of Ireland.

    Concluding all mere desp’rate sots and fools,
    That durst depart from Aristotle ’s rules. Alexander Pope, Ess. on Crit.

ChatGPT

  1. desperate

    Desperate refers to a state of despair or hopelessness, typically causing or involving a frantic or reckless effort to do or achieve something. It is feeling or showing a hopeless sense that a situation is so bad as to be impossible to deal with. It can also mean having a great need or desire for something.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Desperateadjective

    without hope; given to despair; hopeless

  2. Desperateadjective

    beyond hope; causing despair; extremely perilous; irretrievable; past cure, or, at least, extremely dangerous; as, a desperate disease; desperate fortune

  3. Desperateadjective

    proceeding from, or suggested by, despair; without regard to danger or safety; reckless; furious; as, a desperate effort

  4. Desperateadjective

    extreme, in a bad sense; outrageous; -- used to mark the extreme predominance of a bad quality

  5. Desperatenoun

    one desperate or hopeless

Wikidata

  1. Desperate

    Desperate is a 1947 suspense film noir directed by Anthony Mann.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Desperate

    des′pėr-āt, adj. in a state of despair: hopeless: beyond hope: fearless of danger: rash: furious.—adv. Des′perately.—ns. Des′perateness, Desperā′tion, state of despair: disregard of danger: fury. [See Despair.]

British National Corpus

  1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'DESPERATE' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #3806

  2. Written Corpus Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'DESPERATE' in Written Corpus Frequency: #2918

  3. Adjectives Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'DESPERATE' in Adjectives Frequency: #493

How to pronounce DESPERATE?

How to say DESPERATE in sign language?

Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of DESPERATE in Chaldean Numerology is: 1

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of DESPERATE in Pythagorean Numerology is: 3

Examples of DESPERATE in a Sentence

  1. Ayesha Ijaz Khan:

    Unless we get loans from friendly countries or the IMF, we actually won't have in another two or three months enough foreign exchange to service our debts or to pay for our imports. So we're desperate at the moment.

  2. Mark Geragos:

    This redundant and vindictive indictment is nothing more than a desperate attempt to make headlines.

  3. Tony Hernandez:

    When he speaks of that million that he received for the campaign, the prosecutor presented no proof, no documents, no evidence, what we are seeing is that the prosecution, in its desperate mood and with no conclusive evidence, is trying to drag a political character onto the humble innocent who is Juan Antonio Hernandez.

  4. Rebecca Phillips ':

    It just shows that HBCUs have been so undervalued, underfunded and neglected that our presidents are willing ... to go to a man who has failed to disavow the KKK, who has advocated for the death penalty for five young men in the 1990s, who has shouted out in a crowd saying, 'Look at my African American,' the fact that we are in such a desperate need for funding that they find this to be an opportunity? That's what got me.

  5. Kayla Mueller:

    Kayla was one courageous voice, calling the world to speak with one voice and with Kayla Mueller actions, her mother said. To have the same courage and commitment. we do it for Kayla and for the people that are suffering, he said. Although we did n’t witness it first-hand, we saw how it affected her and we knew what we were hearing was true. And today, I feel like Kayla finally got her chance to show it to the world, which she was so desperate to do.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

DESPERATE#1#6496#10000

Translations for DESPERATE

From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary

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"DESPERATE." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/DESPERATE>.

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