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Desperate   /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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"Desperate" Quotes from Famous Books



... peace; and casting Edith from his arms, he set the example of attack or flight—Roland scarcely knew which,—by leaping against the breast of the daring intruder. Both fell together across the threshold, and Roland obeying the call with desperate and frantic ardour, stumbled over their bodies, pitching headlong into the passage, whereby he escaped the certain death that otherwise awaited him, three several rifle-shots having been that instant poured upon him from a distance ...
— Nick of the Woods • Robert M. Bird

... upon him, and as it grew heavier and heavier, he felt that he was being crushed to the earth. Then a feeling of unworthiness that even the earth should hold him up and keep him from instant destruction in hell until God in his mercy would deliver him swept over him, and in his desperate condition he cried out until his voice was heard all over the camp-ground, and the people in crowds came to discover, if possible, what was ...
— The Poorhouse Waif and His Divine Teacher • Isabel C. Byrum

... the drama; but to it we must equally attribute the fights of wild beasts among the Romans, nay, even the combats of the gladiators. But must we, less indurated, and more inclined to tender feelings, require demi-gods and heroes to descend, like so many desperate gladiators, into the bloody arena of the tragic stage, in order to agitate our nerves by the spectacle of their sufferings? No: it is not the sight of suffering which constitutes the charm of a tragedy, or even of the games of the circus, or of the fight ...
— Lectures on Dramatic Art and Literature • August Wilhelm Schlegel

... already moving from Grant's army to the relief of Knoxville. Bragg had also sent to him a staff officer with exhortations to prompt action. For a day or two Longstreet tried to attract Burnside's attention to the south of the river and to other parts of the lines, and then on the 28th prepared a desperate assault upon the great salient of ...
— Military Reminiscences of the Civil War V2 • Jacob Dolson Cox

... do," said Tom, after an investigation. "As you say, there is more of that hard rock than we calculated on. To try to blast and take it out in the ordinary way will be useless. We must try desperate means." ...
— Tom Swift and his Big Tunnel - or, The Hidden City of the Andes • Victor Appleton


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