Desperate

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /ˈdÉ›sp(É™)ɹət/

Origin

From Latin dēspērātus, past participle of dēspērō ("to be without hope")

Full definition of desperate

Adjective

1. Being filled with, or in a state of despair; hopeless.
• William ShakespeareSince his exile she hath despised me most,
  Forsworn my company and rail'd at me,
  That I am desperate of obtaining her.
• 1918, W. B. Maxwell, The Mirror and the Lamp Chapter 16, “… 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.”
2. I was so desperate at one point, I even went to see a loan shark.
3. Without regard to danger or safety; reckless; furious.
• Macaulaydesperate expedients
4. a desperate effort
5. Beyond hope; causing despair; extremely perilous; irretrievable.
   a desperate disease;  desperate fortune
6. Extreme, in a bad sense; outrageous.
• William Shakespearea desperate offendress against nature
• Macaulaythe most desperate of reprobates
7. Extremely intense.

Derived terms

• desperation

Related terms

• despair
• desperado

Anagrams

• departees