desperation

[ des-puh-rey-shuhn ]

noun

1. the state of being desperate or of having the recklessness of despair.
2. the act or fact of despairing; despair.

desperation

/ ˌdɛspəˈreɪʃən /

noun

1. desperate recklessness
2. the act of despairing or the state of being desperate

Word History and Origins

Origin of desperation¹

1325–75; Middle English desperacioun < Latin dēspērātiōn- (stem of dēspērātiō ). See desperate, -ion

Synonym Study

See despair.

Example Sentences

Even Mahomes’s improvisational theater came to suggest desperation more than imagination.

From Washington Post

A campaign so simple, it might seem, could have only come out of desperation.

From Vox

So then he started on a series of efforts, in desperation, to get the items in hand.

From Washington Post

Plays on which win probability was below 20 percent were removed on the assumption that they were desperation calls.

From FiveThirtyEight

At this point, the desperation to get out of the industry is an effort to protect their mental health, they said.

From Digiday

Stories of war, death, fear and desperation do not have happy endings.

From The Daily Beast

What does our desperation to get a nuclear deal at all costs say to the modern-day Iranian Solzhenitsyns rotting in Evin prison?

From The Daily Beast

They were shouting with a mixture of fury and desperation about their families in Kobani, under siege just across the line.

From The Daily Beast

Few bragged about online dating, often keeping the whole ordeal secret, as it reeked of dating desperation.

From The Daily Beast

Perhaps, instead, they had reached a desperation we can't quite fathom.

From The Daily Beast

Faith and hope had left her; and as to love, she knew that she loved one man only, and loved him to desperation.

From Project Gutenberg

At last in desperation, I tried my only remaining tune, not being very proficient on the flute.

From Project Gutenberg

And so step by step the devil thrust him into desperation, and strove thereby to clinch the hopelessness of his estate.

From Project Gutenberg

Then Farnham took down a shutter, and in desperation threw open the windows to let some fresh air in.

From Project Gutenberg

He was in a state of fury, full of plottings of desperation, swearing to himself that he would show no mercy.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• agony
• anguish
• anxiety
• desolation
• despair
• discomfort
• fear
• gloom
• grief
• heartache
• melancholy
• misery
• pain
• sorrow
• unhappiness