DESPERATE • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Desperate

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/dˈɛsprɪt/ /dˈɛspərɪt/ Listen

Desperate

adjective

1.

Arising from or marked by despair or loss of hope. Synonym: despairing. "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"

2.

Desperately determined. Synonym: do-or-die. "A do-or-die conflict"

3.

(of persons) dangerously reckless or violent as from urgency or despair. "Taken hostage of desperate men"

4.

Showing extreme courage; especially of actions courageously undertaken in desperation as a last resort. Synonym: heroic. "The desperate gallantry of our naval task forces marked the turning point in the Pacific war" , "They took heroic measures to save his life"

5.

Showing extreme urgency or intensity especially because of great need or desire. "A desperate need for recognition"

6.

Fraught with extreme danger; nearly hopeless. Synonym: dire. "On all fronts the Allies were in a desperate situation due to lack of materiel" , "A dire emergency"

noun

1.

A person who is frightened and in need of help.

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WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University

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"Desperate" Quotes from Famous Books

... wait for the men who will win me — and I will not be won in a day; And I will not be won by weaklings, subtle, suave and mild, But by men with the hearts of vikings, and the simple faith of a child; Desperate, strong and resistless, unthrottled by fear or defeat, Them will I gild with my treasure, them will ...

— The Spell of the Yukon • Robert Service

... to adjust the lamp-shade, and now stood behind his chair with her arm resting on it, so that he was obliged to turn his head backward to see her—"Mr. Henderson, do you know you are getting to be a desperate flirt?" The laughing eyes looking into his said that was not such a desperate thing to do if he chose ...

— Baddeck and That Sort of Thing • Charles Dudley Warner

... the bright steel flashed in the wavering light as she poised it in act to strike—the next, I had caught her murderous hand and forced it down, and was struggling with her for the mastery of the weapon. She held it with a desperate grip—she fought with me breathlessly, clinging to me with all her force—she reminded me of that ravenous unclean bird with which I had had so fierce a combat on the night of my living burial. For some brief moments she was possessed of supernatural strength—she ...

— Vendetta - A Story of One Forgotten • Marie Corelli

... there is always time to think of her wedding and that she is in no hurry to leave us. Meantime she entertains herself with this Michael as if she did not fear his passion, and neither has Michael the desperate air of a man who knows the definite engagement of Natacha and Boris. And my step-daughter is not a coquette. No, no. No one can say she is a coquette. At least, no one had been able to say it up to the time that Michael arrived. Can it be that she is a coquette? They are mysterious, these ...

— The Secret of the Night • Gaston Leroux

... sterling of interest to pay, and for this we must have taxes. But, why not sweep the national debt away, as France did in her day of royal overthrow? A single sitting of the Convention settled that question. Why not follow the example? Then will come the desperate expedient, and all will be ruin on the heads of the most helpless of the community; for the national debt is only a saving bank on a larger scale, and nine-tenths of its creditors are of the most struggling ...

— Blackwoods Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 59, No. 366, April, 1846 • Various

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