desperately
Americanadverb
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in a reckless or dangerous way because of hopelessness or urgency.
In the movie, he’s the object of an intense police manhunt and scrambles desperately around Belfast trying to escape.
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in a way that shows urgent need or desire.
He is highly motivated to put his all into everything he does, trying desperately to prove himself.
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to a very serious or dangerous degree that leaves little hope.
People without medical insurance may often suffer without care until they are desperately ill.
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extremely or excessively.
My weekend will be desperately dull, as I've been on vacation all week and have to catch up with work.
Other Word Forms
- quasi-desperately adverb
Etymology
Origin of desperately
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.
"The attention he desperately wanted on 1 January is only achieved by the fact that someone believed that object could explode," she said.
From BBC
Meanwhile, long-term sanctions have hobbled Iran’s economy and left most Iranians desperately poor.
From Los Angeles Times
The 14,500-square-foot abode is almost twice the size of the Beverly Hills home that Simmons and his wife are still desperately trying to sell.
From MarketWatch
Hotel servants fetched water, blankets, and towels, as her chaperone kept a desperately ill Kate alive that night.
From Literature
He so desperately wanted this ordeal to be over with.
From Literature
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.
