Adjacent Words

Desperate definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

DESPERATE, a. [L. To despair.]
1. Without hope.
I am desperate of obtaining her.
2. Without care of safety; rash; fearless of danger; as a desperate man. Hence,
3. Furious, as a man in despair.
4. Hopeless; despaired of; lost beyond hope of recovery; irretrievable; irrecoverable; forlorn. We speak of a desperate case of disease, desperate fortunes, a desperate situation or condition.
5. In a popular sense, great in the extreme; as a desperate sot or fool.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: 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" [syn: despairing, desperate]
2: desperately determined; "do-or-die revolutionaries"; "a do- or-die conflict" [syn: desperate, do-or-die]
3: (of persons) dangerously reckless or violent as from urgency or despair; "a desperate criminal"; "taken hostage of desperate men"
4: 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" [syn: desperate, heroic]
5: showing extreme urgency or intensity especially because of great need or desire; "felt a desperate urge to confess"; "a desperate need for recognition"
6: 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" [syn: desperate, dire] n
1: a person who is frightened and in need of help; "they prey on the hopes of the desperate"

Merriam Webster's

adjective Etymology: Latin desperatus, past participle of desperare Date: 15th century 1. a. having lost hope <a desperate spirit crying for relief> b. giving no ground for hope <the outlook was desperate> 2. a. moved by despair <victims made desperate by abuse> b. involving or employing extreme measures in an attempt to escape defeat or frustration <made a desperate leap for the rope> 3. suffering extreme need or anxiety <desperate for money> 4. involving extreme danger or possible disaster <a desperate situation> 5. of extreme intensity 6. shocking, outrageous Synonyms: see despondent • desperateness noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. 1 reckless from despair; violent and lawless. 2 a extremely dangerous or serious (a desperate situation). b staking all on a small chance (a desperate remedy). 3 very bad (a desperate night; desperate poverty). 4 (usu. foll. by for) needing or desiring very much (desperate for recognition). Derivatives: desperately adv. desperateness n. desperation n. Etymology: ME f. L desperatus past part. of desperare (as DE-, sperare hope)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Desperate Des"per*ate, n. One desperate or hopeless. [Obs.]

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Desperate Des"per*ate, a. [L. desperatus, p. p. of desperare. See Despair, and cf. Desperado.] 1. Without hope; given to despair; hopeless. [Obs.] I am desperate of obtaining her. --Shak. 2. Beyond hope; causing despair; extremely perilous; irretrievable; past cure, or, at least, extremely dangerous; as, a desperate disease; desperate fortune. 3. Proceeding from, or suggested by, despair; without regard to danger or safety; reckless; furious; as, a desperate effort. ``Desperate expedients.'' --Macaulay. 4. Extreme, in a bad sense; outrageous; -- used to mark the extreme predominance of a bad quality. A desperate offendress against nature. --Shak. The most desperate of reprobates. --Macaulay. Syn: Hopeless; despairing; desponding; rash; headlong; precipitate; irretrievable; irrecoverable; forlorn; mad; furious; frantic.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. If you are desperate, you are in such a bad situation that you are willing to try anything to change it. Troops are needed to help get food into Kosovo where people are in desperate need... He made a desperate attempt to hijack a plane. ADJ • desperately Thousands are desperately trying to leave their battered homes. ADV: ADV with v 2. If you are desperate for something or desperate to do something, you want or need it very much indeed. They'd been married nearly four years and June was desperate to start a family... People are desperate for him to do something. ADJ: v-link ADJ, usu ADJ to-inf, ADJ for n • desperately He was a boy who desperately needed affection. ADV: ADV with v 3. A desperate situation is very difficult, serious, or dangerous. India's United Nations ambassador said the situation is desperate... = dire ADJ

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. Despairing, hopeless, desponding, despondent, without hope. 2. Wretched, forlorn, beyond hope, irretrievable, past cure, hopeless, despaired of, lost beyond recovery. 3. Extreme, prompted by despair, heroic, done as a last resort or in defiance of consequences. 4. Rash, reckless, precipitate, headlong, frantic, despairing. 5. (Colloq.) Great, extreme, prodigious, monstrous, supreme.

Moby Thesaurus

Dionysiac, accident-prone, aching for, acute, affording no hope, amok, apathetic, atrocious, bacchic, baffled, balked, berserk, bleak, breakneck, careless, cheerless, climacteric, comfortless, compelling, concentrated, corybantic, craving, critical, crucial, crying, dangerous, desirous of, despairing, despondent, desponding, devil-may-care, dire, disconsolate, dismal, exquisite, fierce, foiled, foolhardy, forlorn, frantic, frenetic, frenzied, frustrated, furious, grave, great, grim, hard pressed, hard up, harum-scarum, hasty, hazardous, headlong, heinous, hopeless, hotheaded, hurried, impetuous, in despair, in desperate straits, in extremis, in extremities, like one possessed, mad, madding, maenadic, maniac, maniacal, monstrous, overeager, overenthusiastic, overzealous, panic-stricken, perilous, pinched, precarious, precipitant, precipitate, precipitous, pressing, rabid, raging, ranting, rash, raving, raving mad, reckless, running wild, scandalous, serious, shocking, slap-bang, slapdash, sorely pressed, stark-raving mad, straitened, tenuous, terrible, thwarted, uncontrollable, unhopeful, up against it, urgent, vehement, venturesome, vicious, violent, wanton, wild, without hope, wretched