Synonyms for desperate
ˈdɛs pər ɪt, -prɪt

Princeton's WordNet(5.00 / 2 votes)Rate these synonyms:

1. desperate(adj)

   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, desperate(adj)

   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), despairing, dire

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

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

   desperately determined

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

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

4. desperate(adj)

   (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, heroic(adj)

   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, despairing, expansive, grand

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

6. desperate(adj)

   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, dire(adj)

   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, awful, frightening, despairing, direful, dreadful

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

Complete Dictionary of Synonyms and Antonyms(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate these synonyms:

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

Dictionary of English Synonymes(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate these synonyms:

1. desperate(a.)

   Synonyms:
   despairing, hopeless, without hope

2. desperate(a.)

   Synonyms:
   wretched, forlorn, beyond hope

3. desperate(a.)

   Synonyms:
   rash, reckless, precipitate, headlong, frantic

Synonyms, Antonyms & Associated Words(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate these synonyms:

1. desperate(a)

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

PPDB, the paraphrase database(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate these paraphrases:

1. List of paraphrases for "desperate":

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

How to pronounce desperate?

Alex

US English

Daniel

British

Karen

Australian

Veena

Indian

How to say desperate in sign language?

Words popularity by usage frequency

How to use desperate in a sentence?

1. Michael Avenatti:

   The letter from Dennis Ketterer is garbage - the GOP is desperate, the allegations Dennis Ketterer makes are false and without any basis. We demand that the FBI interview my client Dennis Ketterer, and that anyone found to have submitted false info be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

2. Lewis Mumford:

   Every new baby is a blind desperate vote for survival: people who find themselves unable to register an effective political protest against extermination do so by a biological act.

3. Thomas Jefferson:

   It is part of the American character to consider nothing as desperate - to surmount every difficulty by resolution and contrivance.

4. Dilia Rosa Gelis:

   We dont have water. We dont have lights, how am I supposed to see in this cave where I live ? Im desperate.

5. Mike Donilon:

   The country knows what's at stake. We have a president who doesn't want to talk about the central issue in this campaign right now, he doesn't want to talk about the coronavirus and his reaction to it. He's desperate to try to get any form of distraction from it.

Images & Illustrations of desperate