desperate
/ˈdɛs.p(ə.)ɹɪt/ adjective, adverb, noun
Forms desperater desperatest desperates
- adjective In dire need (of something); having a dire need or desire. “I hadn't eaten in two days and was desperate for food.”
- adjective Being filled with, or in a state of, despair; hopeless. “I was so desperate at one point, I even went to see a loan shark.”
- adjective Beyond hope, leaving little reason for hope; causing despair; extremely perilous. “a desperate disease; desperate fortune”
- adjective Involving or employing extreme measures, without regard to danger or safety; reckless due to hopelessness. “He dove into the rushing waters in a desperate effort to save her life.”
- adjective Extremely bad; outrageous, shocking; intolerable.
- adjective Intense; extremely intense.
- adverb (US dialectal) Desperately.
- noun A person in desperate circumstances or who is at the point of desperation, such as a down-and-outer, addict, etc.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English desperat(e) (“desperate”), borrowed from Latin dēspērātus, perfect passive participle of dēspērō (“to be without hope”), see -ate (adjective-forming suffix). The noun is derived from the adjective or from the Latin source through substantivization, see -ate (noun-forming suffix).
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Without hope; given to despair; hopeless. [Obs.]
- adjective Beyond hope; causing despair; extremely perilous; irretrievable; past cure, or, at least, extremely dangerous; as, a desperate disease; desperate fortune.
- noun One desperate or hopeless. [Obs.]
Etymology [L. desperatus, p. p. of desperare. See Despair, and cf. Desperado.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “desperate”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details