desperate

 
Pronunciation: /ˈdɛsp(ə)rət/

adjective

  • 1feeling or showing a hopeless sense that a situation is so bad as to be impossible to deal with: a desperate sadness enveloped Ruth
  • (of an act) tried in despair or when everything else has failed: drugs used in a desperate attempt to save his life
  • (of a situation) extremely serious or dangerous: there is a desperate shortage of teachers
  • (of a person) violent or dangerous: a desperate criminal
  • Irish informal very bad: that beer’s desperate—it’s a wonder you’ve the nerve to offer it for sale
  • 2 [predic.] (of a person) having a great need or desire for something: I am desperate for a cigarette [with infinitive]: other women are desperate to get back to work

Phrases

desperate diseases must have desperate remedies

proverb extreme measures are justified as a response to a difficult or dangerous situation: she resorted to even more desperate remedies

Derivatives

desperateness

noun

Origin:

late Middle English (in the sense 'in despair'): from Latin desperatus 'deprived of hope', past participle of desperare (see despair)

Spelling help

Spell desperate with -per- in the middle.

perhaps he was desperate to escape.