English Online Dictionary. What means desperate? What does desperate mean?
English
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin dēspērātus, past participle of dēspērō (“to be without hope”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈdɛsp(ə)ɹət/
Adjective
desperate (comparative more desperate, superlative most desperate)
- In dire need (of something); having a dire need or desire.
- Being filled with, or in a state of, despair; hopeless.
- Beyond hope, leaving little reason for hope; causing despair; extremely perilous.
- Involving or employing extreme measures, without regard to danger or safety; reckless due to hopelessness.
- Extremely bad; outrageous, shocking; intolerable.
- 2022 September 2, Irish People Try American-Style Pancakes, circa 8:12:
- Whoever's writing the stuff on this has desperate handwriting, like they must be a doctor...
- Intense; extremely intense.
Derived terms
Related terms
- despair
- desperado
Translations
Noun
desperate (plural desperates)
- A person in desperate circumstances or who is at the point of desperation, such as a down-and-outer, addict, etc.
See also
Anagrams
- departees
Danish
Adjective
desperate
- plural and definite singular attributive of desperat
Latin
Verb
dēspērāte
- second-person plural present active imperative of dēspērō
References
- “desperate”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- desperate in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
Norwegian Bokmål
Adjective
desperate
- definite singular of desperat
- plural of desperat
Norwegian Nynorsk
Adjective
desperate
- definite singular of desperat
- plural of desperat
Spanish
Verb
desperate
- second-person singular voseo imperative of desperar combined with te