desperate
Americanadjective
-
reckless or dangerous because of despair, hopelessness, or urgency.
a desperate killer.
- Antonyms:
- careful
-
having an urgent need, desire, etc..
desperate for attention;
desperate to find a job.
-
leaving little or no hope; very serious or dangerous.
a desperate illness.
- Synonyms:
- grave
- Antonyms:
- hopeful
-
extremely bad; intolerable or shocking.
clothes in desperate taste.
-
extreme or excessive.
-
making a final, ultimate effort; giving all.
a desperate attempt to save a life.
-
actuated by a feeling of hopelessness.
-
having no hope; giving in to despair.
- Antonyms:
- hopeful
noun
adjective
-
careless of danger, as from despair; utterly reckless
-
(of an act) reckless; risky
-
used or undertaken in desperation or as a last resort
desperate measures
-
critical; very grave
in desperate need
-
in distress and having a great need or desire
-
moved by or showing despair or hopelessness; despairing
Synonym Usage
See hopeless.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of desperate
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Latin dēspērātus, past participle of dēspērāre “to be without hope, despair”; see despair, -ate 1
Explanation
Desperate means "having lost all hope." If you are desperate for food, it means you are starving, possibly about to die. If you are in a desperate situation, it means things are really, really bad. Desperate, desparate, or despirate? The word desperate is misspelled often enough that it's the despair of English teachers. Both desperate and despair come from the same Latin verb as despair. Don't mix it up with disparate, a totally different word that means "distinctive, different, various."
Vocabulary lists containing desperate
List 8
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"Sorry, Wrong Number," Vocabulary from the play
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myPerspectives 6.1
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Maya and James A were left yawning ever more widely in the desperate hope that the other two would join in, before the credits rolled.
From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2026
On screen, Guitarrica’s expressive and angular visage conveys the fright and uncertainty that afflict his character, who is desperate for tenderness.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 15, 2026
In a desperate attempt to bring him back, Ma Moe San Pan was then scammed out of 4.5 million kyats by strangers who falsely promised his release.
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026
The unlikely alliance illustrates the increasingly desperate scramble for “compute,” the lifeblood of the AI boom.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2026
But if “experimental high-tech . . . autopilot” was the best he could do, he was really getting desperate.
From "Found" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
