desperate means in dire need (of something); having a dire need or desire. It carries an Arena rating of 1590, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, desperate ranks #2,350 of 14,448 for Most Incisive Words, #2,351 of 14,308 for Most Malleable Words, #6,183 of 14,322 for Scariest Words, #7,082 of 14,423 for Most Sublime Words.
desperate is pronounced /ˈdɛs.p(ə.)ɹɪt/.
Why “desperate” is a great word
Having a sense of despair or hopelessness, or acting with reckless urgency due to extreme need or desire. From Middle English desperat, borrowed from Latin dēspērātus, the past participle of dēspērō ("to be without hope"), from de- ("without") + spērō ("to hope"). Unlike "hopeless" (which suggests a passive, abject surrender) or "eager" (which brims with cheerful anticipation), "desperate" carries a frantic, kinetic energy born of last chances. It is the gnarled hand gripping the cliff edge as gravel gives way, the wild-eyed scan of a barren cupboard, the furious, arrhythmic pounding on a bolted door in the dead of night—the final, flawed, and human refusal to accept the inevitable.
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).
adj
- In dire need (of something); having a dire need or desire.“I hadn't eaten in two days and was desperate for food.”
- Being filled with, or in a state of, despair; hopeless.“I was so desperate at one point, I even went to see a loan shark.”
- Beyond hope, leaving little reason for hope; causing despair; extremely perilous.“a desperate disease; desperate fortune”
- Involving or employing extreme measures, without regard to danger or safety; reckless due to hopelessness.“In England his flute was not in request; there were no convents; and he was forced to have recourse to a series of desperate expedients.”
- Extremely bad; outrageous, shocking; intolerable.“a desperate offendress against nature”
- Intense; extremely intense.“She enraged some country ladies with three times her money, by a sort of desperate perfection which they found in her.”
noun
- A person in desperate circumstances or who is at the point of desperation, such as a down-and-outer, addict, etc.
Words closest in meaning
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