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. Charles Krauthammer:

    President Obama understood that from the beginning, that’s why President Obama was so desperate to get Hillary elected.

  2. Clay Higgins:

    I’m not concerned with the insidious lies of desperate men. I have a job to do, a nation to save, and 760K constituents of South Louisiana to serve.

  3. Sarah Lenti:

    Wait, what happened to their higher calling? if Trump was damaging to the country in 2019, why wish that on the American people today? If the democracy was and is truly at stake … why play with fire? Their goading of Trump is reckless, disgustingly unpatriotic, and utterly desperate. And, like Trump, their greed and desire to be relevant supersedes what is best for America.

  4. Katie Vincentz:

    The refusal by the New York State Democratic Party to tackle the issues of crime and the economy is exactly why our state is leading the country in population loss, hochul and her pathetic henchmen are desperate to distract away from all of the ways they are destroying New York.

  5. Henry David Thoreau:

    It is characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.

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. 19 Mar. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/Desperate>.

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    pleasing in appearance especially by reason of conformity to ideals of form and proportion
    A dependable
    B occasional
    C victimised
    D handsome

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