'Desperate' definitions:
Definition of 'desperate'
(from WordNet)
adjective
Arising from or marked by despair or loss of hope; "a despairing view of the world situation"; "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" [syn: despairing, desperate]
adjective
Desperately determined; "do-or-die revolutionaries"; "a do- or-die conflict" [syn: desperate, do-or-die(a)]
adjective
(of persons) dangerously reckless or violent as from urgency or despair; "a desperate criminal"; "taken hostage of desperate men"
adjective
Showing extreme courage; especially of actions courageously undertaken in desperation as a last resort; "made a last desperate attempt to reach the climber"; "the desperate gallantry of our naval task forces marked the turning point in the Pacific war"- G.C.Marshall; "they took heroic measures to save his life" [syn: desperate, heroic]
adjective
Showing extreme urgency or intensity especially because of great need or desire; "felt a desperate urge to confess"; "a desperate need for recognition"
adjective
Fraught with extreme danger; nearly hopeless; "a desperate illness"; "on all fronts the Allies were in a desperate situation due to lack of materiel"- G.C.Marshall; "a dire emergency" [syn: desperate, dire]
noun
A person who is frightened and in need of help; "they prey on the hopes of the desperate"
Definition of 'Desperate'
From: GCIDE
- Desperate \Des"per*ate\, n. One desperate or hopeless. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
Definition of 'Desperate'
From: GCIDE
- Desperate \Des"per*ate\, a. [L. desperatus, p. p. of desperare. See Despair, and cf. Desperado.]
- 1. Without hope; given to despair; hopeless. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
- I am desperate of obtaining her. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
- 2. Beyond hope; causing despair; extremely perilous; irretrievable; past cure, or, at least, extremely dangerous; as, a desperate disease; desperate fortune. [1913 Webster]
- 3. Proceeding from, or suggested by, despair; without regard to danger or safety; reckless; furious; as, a desperate effort. "Desperate expedients." --Macaulay. [1913 Webster]
- 4. Extreme, in a bad sense; outrageous; -- used to mark the extreme predominance of a bad quality. [1913 Webster]
- A desperate offendress against nature. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
- The most desperate of reprobates. --Macaulay.
- Syn: Hopeless; despairing; desponding; rash; headlong; precipitate; irretrievable; irrecoverable; forlorn; mad; furious; frantic. [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'desperate'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- accident-prone,
- aching for,
- acute,
- affording no hope,
- amok,
- apathetic,
- atrocious,
- bacchic,
- baffled,
- balked,
- berserk,
- bleak,
- breakneck,
- careless,
- cheerless,
- climacteric,
- comfortless,
- compelling,
- concentrated,
- corybantic,
- craving,
- critical,
- crucial,
- crying,
- dangerous,
- desirous of,
- despairing,
- despondent,
- desponding,
- devil-may-care,
- Dionysiac,
- dire,
- disconsolate,
- dismal,
- exquisite,
- fierce,
- foiled,
- foolhardy,
- forlorn,
- frantic,
- frenetic,
- frenzied,
- frustrated,
- furious,
- grave,
- great,
- grim,
- hard pressed,
- hard up,
- harum-scarum,
- hasty,
- hazardous,
- headlong,
- heinous,
- hopeless,
- hotheaded,
- hurried,
- impetuous,
- in despair,
- in desperate straits,
- in extremis,
- in extremities,
- like one possessed,
- mad,
- madding,
- maenadic,
- maniac,
- maniacal,
- monstrous,
- overeager,
- overenthusiastic,
- overzealous,
- panic-stricken,
- perilous,
- pinched,
- precarious,
- precipitant,
- precipitate,
- precipitous,
- pressing,
- rabid,
- raging,
- ranting,
- rash,
- raving,
- raving mad,
- reckless,
- running wild,
- scandalous,
- serious,
- shocking,
- slap-bang,
- slapdash,
- sorely pressed,
- stark-raving mad,
- straitened,
- tenuous,
- terrible,
- thwarted,
- uncontrollable,
- unhopeful,
- up against it,
- urgent,
- vehement,
- venturesome,
- vicious,
- violent,
- wanton,
- wild,
- without hope,
- wretched