desperado
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of desperado
1600–10; probably pseudo-Spanish alteration of desperate (as noun, now obsolete), in same sense
Explanation
A desperado is an outlaw that you'd see in an old Western or in the Wild West. Think spurs, horses, and hip holsters— and a desperado with a cowboy hat on his head and a bandana tied around his face. You probably know the common word desperate. A hundred years ago, the word wasn’t just an adjective — it was also a noun. A desperate was someone in despair, someone in a desperate situation. And the American frontier was full of such people, people who had gone West to find gold but missed out on a big payoff. Desperado has the same meaning as the noun desperate, but with a Spanish influence.
Vocabulary lists containing desperado
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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.
See Examples For:
Still, with his chest-hugging T-shirt and rugged handsomeness, Mr. Bernthal recalls John Travolta in his early prime rather than the sweaty, disheveled but endearing desperado memorably created by Mr. Pacino.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 31, 2026
He’s an oddly upper-class desperado, like Townes Van Zandt.
From New York Times ● Nov. 28, 2022
You’d think Kuehl, 81, was some kind of desperado.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2022
“He certainly is not a negro desperado, but an intelligent gentleman, whose appearance speaks for him,” she wrote.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 20, 2022
“Just fine,” she said, and wondered who else in Maycomb still remembered Scout Finch, juvenile desperado, hell- raiser extraordinary.
From "Go Set a Watchman: A Novel" by Harper Lee
Qf6, and no amount of desperadoes can deflect White’s mating attack.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 11, 2022
“It’s telling our history, about citrus wars, about Chicano murals, about the Black Panther Party, about desperadoes — all of those stories.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 19, 2017
His experience pursuing desperadoes and fugitives—and once being a fugitive himself—allowed Hester to think like his prey.
From Slate ● Mar. 4, 2016
In these days of expletive strewn reality TV shows it is easy to forget just how incendiary Rotten and his band of desperadoes were.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 1, 2012
Tom found these people cowards and, therefore, more contemptible than the desperadoes who risked their lives to hold up a train.
From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann
You’ve turned some of the state’s women into desperados.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 10, 2022
With his stocky build, unnerving gaze, five o’clock shadow and tightly wound energy, Mr. Persoff specialized in portraying gangland figures, Wild West desperados, bellicose generalissimos and Cold War heavies.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 6, 2022
It’s such a strong performance that in moments, despite Mr. Richet’s attention to detail — the shiny chrome, the desperados, the pretty sun-kissed color — the movie all but fades, leaving only Mr. Gibson.
From New York Times ● Aug. 25, 2016
Among the warring gang of desperados who make up the titular Hatefuls, Tarantino needed someone to play a convict called Daisy Domergue, wild-haired, foul-mouthed.
From The Guardian ● Jan. 2, 2016
For a fleeting instant the thought, that she must fall a victim to such desperados, paralysed her with fear; but only for an instant.
From Bengal Dacoits and Tigers by Devee, Sunity
Definitions 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.
