FromMiddle Englishdesperat(e)(“desperate”), borrowed fromLatindēspērātus,perfectpassiveparticiple ofdēspērō(“to be without hope”), see-ate(adjective-forming suffix). Thenoun is derived from theadjective or from the Latin source throughsubstantivization, see-ate(noun-forming suffix).
desperate (comparativemoredesperateor(rare)desperater,superlativemostdesperateor(dated)desperatest)
- Indire need (of something); having a dire need or desire.
I hadn't eaten in two days and wasdesperate for food.
desperate to eat;desperate for attention
- Being filled with, or in a state of,despair;hopeless.
I was sodesperate at one point, I even went to see a loan shark.
c.1590–1591 (date written),William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, andEd[ward] Blount, published1623,→OCLC,[Act III, scene ii]:Since his exile she hath despised me most,
Forsworn my company and rail'd at me,
That I amdesperate of obtaining her.
1918,W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XVI, inThe Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.:The Bobbs-Merrill Company,→OCLC:“[…] She takes the whole thing withdesperate 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.”
2022 January 12, Benedict le Vay, “The heroes of Soham...”, inRAIL, number948, page43:But signalman Bridges was never to answer driver Gimbert'sdesperate question. A deafening, massive blast blew the wagon to shreds, the 44 high-explosive bombs exploding like simultaneous hits from the aircraft they should have been dropped from. The station was instantly reduced to bits of debris, and the line to a huge crater.
- Beyond hope, leaving little reason for hope; causing despair; extremely perilous.
adesperate disease; desperate fortune
- Involving or employing extreme measures, without regard to danger or safety; reckless due to hopelessness.
1904, Clorinda Matto de Turner,Birds Without a Nest: A Story of Indian Life and Priestly Oppression in Peru, page218:“I knew very well that when the Peruvian Indian does anything wrong it is because he is forced to it by oppression and madedesperate by abuse,” replied Lucia.
2016, Hans-Martin Sass,Cultures in Bioethics, LIT Verlag Münster,→ISBN, page239:Humankind's global integration makes biological combat a weapon of choice fordesperate killers, who are either suicidal or intend to infect others […]
He dove into the rushing waters in adesperate effort to save her life.
- Extremely bad; outrageous, shocking; intolerable.
c.1604–1605 (date written),William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, andEd[ward] Blount, published1623,→OCLC,[Act I, scene i]:adesperate offendress against nature
1876,Thomas Babington Macaulay, “BUNYAN, John”, inThe Encyclopædia Britannica […] [2], Ninth edition, Volume IV, Edinburgh:Adam and Charles Black,page526, column 2:The worst that can be laid to the charge of this poor youth, whom it has been the fashion to represent as the mostdesperate of reprobates, as a village Rochester, is, that he had a great liking for some diversions, quite harmless in themselves, but condemned by the rigid precisians among whom he lived, and for whose opinion he had a great respect.
1898,Longman's Magazine, page161:The letters which were of most importance were in half a dozen languages and in thedesperate handwriting of the period. Eminent men in that age thought it - like Hamlet - a baseness to write fair. Often at the end of a page I have […]
(Can wedate this quote?),Stopping Inertia, Dorrance Publishing,→ISBN, page131:She pictured having a boyfriend over and losing him when he saw herdesperate taste in shampoo; however, the chances of that happening were slim.
- 2022 September 2,Irish People Try American-Style Pancakes, circa 8:12:
- Whoever's writing the stuff on this hasdesperate handwriting, like they must be a doctor...
- Intense; extremelyintense.
2022 May 28, Phil McCulty, “Liverpool 0-1 Real Madrid”, inBBC Sport:For Liverpool, it capped six days ofdesperate disappointment after missing out on the Premier League to Manchester City by a single point then losing to this experienced, street-smart Real team.
in dire need (of something)
Translations to be checked
desperate (pluraldesperates)
- A person in desperate circumstances or who is at the point of desperation, such as adown-and-outer,addict, etc.
desperate
- plural anddefinitesingularattributive ofdesperat
dēspērāte
- second-personpluralpresentactiveimperative ofdēspērō
- “desperate”, inCharlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879)A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- desperate inGaffiot, Félix (1934)Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
desperate
- definitesingular ofdesperat
- plural ofdesperat
desperate
- definitesingular ofdesperat
- plural ofdesperat
desperate
- second-personsingular voseoimperative ofdesperar combined withte
