desperate
pronunciation
How to pronounce desperate in British English:
UK [ˈdespərət]
How to pronounce desperate in American English:
US [ˈdespərət]
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- Noun:
- a person who is frightened and in need of help
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- Adjective:
- arising from or marked by despair or loss of hope
- desperately determined
- (of persons) dangerously reckless or violent as from urgency or despair
- showing extreme courage; especially of actions courageously undertaken in desperation as a last resort
- showing extreme urgency or intensity especially because of great need or desire
- fraught with extreme danger; nearly hopeless
Word Origin
- desperate (adj.)
- early 15c., "despairing, hopeless," from Latin desperatus "given up, despaired of," past participle of desperare (see despair (v.)). Sense of "driven to recklessness" is from late 15c.; weakened sense of "having a great desire for" is from 1950s. Related: Desperately.
Example
- 1. Again , leave such shenanigans to the truly desperate .
- 2. Yet desperate times may lead to desperate measures .
- 3. Israel fought a desperate battle for survival .
- 4. The situation is neither desperate nor beyond repair .
- 5. In the dry south-western part of california 's central valley , almond-growers are resorting to desperate measures .