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Wiktionary

desperate

EnglishEdit

EtymologyEdit

Borrowed from Latin dēspērātus, past participle of dēspērō (“to be without hope”)

PronunciationEdit

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈdɛsp(ə)ɹət/
  • Audio (US)
    		(file)

AdjectiveEdit

desperate (comparative more desperate, superlative most desperate)

  1. In dire need of something.
    I hadn't eaten in two days and was desperate for food.
  2. Being filled with, or in a state of despair; hopeless.
    • (Can we date this quote by William Shakespeare and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)
      Since his exile she hath despised me most, / Forsworn my company and rail'd at me, / That I am desperate of obtaining her.
    • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 16, in The Mirror and the Lamp:
      “[…] She takes the whole thing with desperate seriousness. But the others are all easy and jovial—thinking about the good fare that is soon to be eaten, about the hired fly, about anything.”
    I was so desperate at one point, I even went to see a loan shark.
  3. Without regard to danger or safety; reckless; furious.
    • (Can we date this quote by Macaulay and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)
      desperate expedients
    a desperate effort
  4. Beyond hope; causing despair; extremely perilous; irretrievable.
    a desperate disease;  desperate fortune
  5. Extreme, in a bad sense; outrageous.
    • (Can we date this quote by William Shakespeare and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)
      a desperate offendress against nature
    • (Can we date this quote by Macaulay and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)
      the most desperate of reprobates
  6. Extremely intense.
    (Can we add an example for this sense?)

NounEdit

desperate (plural desperates)

  1. A person in desperate circumstances or who is at the point of desperation, such as a down-and-outer, addict, etc.

Derived termsEdit

Related termsEdit

TranslationsEdit

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked

AnagramsEdit

DanishEdit

AdjectiveEdit

desperate

  1. plural and definite singular attributive of desperat

LatinEdit

VerbEdit

dēspērāte

  1. second-person plural present active imperative of dēspērō

ReferencesEdit

Norwegian BokmålEdit

AdjectiveEdit

desperate

  1. definite singular of desperat
  2. plural of desperat

Norwegian NynorskEdit

AdjectiveEdit

desperate

  1. definite singular of desperat
  2. plural of desperat
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