Synonyms for DESPERATE
ˈdɛs pər ɪt, -prɪtdes·per·ate

Complete Dictionary of Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. desperate

   Synonyms:
   wild, daring, audacious, determined, reckless, abandoned, rash, furious, frantic, despairing, regardless, mad, desponding, hapless, inextricable, irremediable

   Antonyms:
   cool, calm, cautious, timid, shy, irresolute, remediable, hopeful, promising, propitious

Princeton's WordNetRate these synonyms:5.0 / 2 votes

1. desperateadjective

   a person who is frightened and in need of help

   "they prey on the hopes of the desperate"

   Antonyms:
   cowardly, beseeching, imploring, fearful, hopeful, noncritical, noncrucial, pleading, irresolute, safe

2. despairing, desperateadjective

   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"

   Synonyms:
   heroic, do-or-die(a), desperate, despairing, dire

   Antonyms:
   cowardly, hopeful, fearful, safe, noncrucial, beseeching, imploring, pleading, irresolute, noncritical

3. desperate, do-or-die(a)adjective

   desperately determined

   "do-or-die revolutionaries"; "a do-or-die conflict"

   Antonyms:
   noncrucial, fearful, imploring, beseeching, irresolute, safe, hopeful, noncritical, cowardly, pleading

4. desperateadjective

   (of persons) dangerously reckless or violent as from urgency or despair

   "a desperate criminal"; "taken hostage of desperate men"

   Synonyms:
   heroic, do-or-die(a), dire, despairing

   Antonyms:
   fearful, irresolute, noncrucial, safe, beseeching, pleading, noncritical, cowardly, imploring, hopeful

5. desperate, heroicadjective

   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"

   Synonyms:
   heroical, dire, do-or-die(a), epic, heroic, larger-than-life, desperate, despairing, expansive, grand

   Antonyms:
   imploring, cowardly, fearful, noncritical, noncrucial, pleading, safe, beseeching, hopeful, irresolute

6. desperateadjective

   showing extreme urgency or intensity especially because of great need or desire

   "felt a desperate urge to confess"; "a desperate need for recognition"

   Synonyms:
   heroic, do-or-die(a), dire, despairing

   Antonyms:
   hopeful, imploring, fearful, noncrucial, pleading, beseeching, safe, irresolute, cowardly, noncritical

7. desperate, direadjective

   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"

   Synonyms:
   dread(a), fearful, dreaded, dire, terrible, do-or-die(a), horrendous, fearsome, horrific, heroic, desperate, awful, frightening, despairing, direful, dreadful

   Antonyms:
   cowardly, pleading, irresolute, noncritical, fearful, safe, imploring, hopeful, noncrucial, beseeching

Dictionary of English SynonymesRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. desperateadjective

   Synonyms:
   despairing, hopeless, without hope

2. desperateadjective

   Synonyms:
   wretched, forlorn, beyond hope

3. desperateadjective

   Synonyms:
   rash, reckless, precipitate, headlong, frantic

Synonyms, Antonyms & Associated WordsRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. desperateadjective

   Synonyms:
   irretrievable, hopeless, incurable, remediless, outrageous, atrocious, monstrous, heinous

PPDB, the paraphrase databaseRate these paraphrases:0.0 / 0 votes

1. List of paraphrases for "desperate":

   hopeless, despairing, dire, frantic, distraught, bereft, despair

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How to use DESPERATE in a sentence?

1. White House:

   This report refutes the latest false accusation by Senate Democrats and fully exonerates Judge Kavanaugh, between crowdsourcing baseball fans to attacking Senate Democrats college sports commentary, the left has lost all credibility and is looking more desperate by the day.

2. Donagh Stenson:

   We've had women in the past ask us, are they going to hell ? we've even had to arrange for priests to get in contact with the woman because she's that desperate about the position she's in and the fact she never thought she'd be here.

3. Judge Martin Carlson:

   I want to note for you that one of the reasons you are going home today is because, in a desperate time in the glare of public scrutiny, your mother has stepped forward and promised to serve as a third-party custodian, your mother is making an enormous leap of faith on your behalf.

4. Russell Wilson:

   As millions of people of all colors protest, I see a world of hurt, pain and despair. But I also see a new generation, a generation that is calling out in desperate need for lasting change.

5. Anthony Hopkins:

   Forty-seven years ago, I was in a desperate situation, in despair, and uh, probably not long to live, and I just had to realize there was something really wrong with me. But I didn’t realize it was a kind of condition – a mental, physical, emotional condition called alcoholism or addiction.