desperate
/ˈdɛs.p(ə.)ɹɪt/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.32 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
3
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Being filled with, or in a state of, despair; hopeless.
adj
Involving or employing extreme measures, without regard to danger or safety; reckless due to hopelessness.
adj
noun
A person in desperate circumstances or who is at the point of desperation, such as a down-and-outer, addict, etc.
Example Sentences
- "I hadn't eaten in two days and was desperate for food."
- "desperate to eat; desperate for attention"
- "I was so desperate at one point, I even went to see a loan shark."
- "Since his exile she hath despised me most, Forsworn my company and rail'd at me, That I am desperate of obtaining her."
- "“[…] 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.”"
- "But signalman Bridges was never to answer driver Gimbert's desperate 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."
Etymology
From Middle English desperat(e) (“desperate”), borrowed from Latin dēspērātus, perfect passive participle of dēspērō (“to be without hope”), see -ate (adjective-forming suffix). The noun is derived from the adjective or from the Latin source through substantivization, see -ate (noun-forming suffix).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *speh₁-, desperat, dēspērātus
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈdɛs.p(ə.)ɹɪt/
- British English: /ˈdɛs.p(ə.)ɹɪt/
Usage
- American usage
Inflected Forms
more desperate (comparative)
desperater (comparative, proscribed)
most desperate (superlative)
desperatest (proscribed, superlative)
desperates (plural)