Adjacent Words

Desperation definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

DESPERATION, n.
1. A despairing; a giving up of hope; as desperation of success.
2. Hopelessness; despair; as, the men were in a state of desperation. Hence,
3. Fury; rage; disregard of safety or danger; as, the men fought with desperation; they were urged to desperation.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a state in which all hope is lost or absent; "in the depths of despair"; "they were rescued from despair at the last minute"; "courage born of desperation" [syn: despair, desperation]
2: desperate recklessness; "it was a policy of desperation"

Merriam Webster's

noun Date: 14th century 1. loss of hope and surrender to despair 2. a state of hopelessness leading to rashness

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Desperation Des`per*a"tion, n. [L. desperatio: cf. OF. desperation.] 1. The act of despairing or becoming desperate; a giving up of hope. This desperation of success chills all our industry. --Hammond. 2. A state of despair, or utter hopeless; abandonment of hope; extreme recklessness; reckless fury. In the desperation of the moment, the officers even tried to cut their way through with their swords. --W. Irving.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Desperation is the feeling that you have when you are in such a bad situation that you will try anything to change it. This feeling of desperation and helplessness was common to most of the refugees...

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Despair, hopelessness. 2. Rage, fury, defiance of consequences, reckless fury.

Moby Thesaurus

acedia, anguish, anxiety, anxiousness, apathy, cave of Trophonius, cave of despair, defeatism, dejection, depression, despair, desperateness, despondency, disconsolateness, discouragement, distress, foolhardiness, forlornness, gloom, heedlessness, hopelessness, impetuosity, imprudence, melancholy, misery, no exit, no way, no way out, pessimism, rashness, recklessness, sloth, sorrow, wretchedness