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Desperate   /dˈɛsprɪt/  /dˈɛspərɪt/   Listen
Desperate

adjective
1.
Arising from or marked by despair or loss of hope.  Synonym: despairing.  "The last despairing plea of the condemned criminal" , "A desperate cry for help" , "Helpless and desperate--as if at the end of his tether" , "Her desperate screams"
2.
Desperately determined.  Synonym: do-or-die.  "A do-or-die conflict"
3.
(of persons) dangerously reckless or violent as from urgency or despair.  "Taken hostage of desperate men"
4.
Showing extreme courage; especially of actions courageously undertaken in desperation as a last resort.  Synonym: heroic.  "The desperate gallantry of our naval task forces marked the turning point in the Pacific war" , "They took heroic measures to save his life"
5.
Showing extreme urgency or intensity especially because of great need or desire.  "A desperate need for recognition"
6.
Fraught with extreme danger; nearly hopeless.  Synonym: dire.  "On all fronts the Allies were in a desperate situation due to lack of materiel" , "A dire emergency"
noun
1.
A person who is frightened and in need of help.



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desperate criminal
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desperate straits


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"Desperate" Quotes from Famous Books



... such dexterity, that the old files{2} were fearful of losing their prey; but the odds were fearfully against her, and never did I feel my indignation more aroused, than when I beheld a sturdy ruffian aim a desperate blow at her head with his rattle, which in all probability, had it taken the intended effect, would have sent her in search of that peace in the other world, of which she was experiencing so little in this. It was not possible for me to stand ...
— Real Life In London, Volumes I. and II. • Pierce Egan
... made the other guy desperate, because he made a dive and let his needle ray burn out a slashing beam that zipped across over my head. My forty-five blazed twice. He missed but I didn't, just as the throb of the stun-gun rang the air again. I whirled to face my stun-gun coming out ...
— Stop Look and Dig • George O. Smith
... of my edition of the Rig-Veda, and if anybody wishes to see what can be done by misrepresentation, let him read what is written there, and what Professor Whitney made of it in his articles in the "Journal of the American Oriental Society." His misunderstandings are so desperate, that he himself at times feels uneasy, and admits that a more charitable interpretation of what I wanted to say would be possible. When I saw this style of arguing, the utter absence of any regard for what was, or what ...
— Chips from a German Workshop - Volume IV - Essays chiefly on the Science of Language • Max Muller
... one of the world's most centrally planned and isolated economies, faces desperate economic conditions. Industrial capital stock is nearly beyond repair as a result of years of underinvestment and spare parts shortages. Industrial and power output have declined in parallel. The nation has suffered its eleventh year of food shortages because ...
— The 2005 CIA World Factbook • United States. Central Intelligence Agency
... inside because of the mosquitoes, and when she had insisted that he must stop coming to see her, that his attentions were noticeable to others, and that she would be disgraced, he caught her, under desperate ...
— The Financier • Theodore Dreiser


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