What is another word for desperate?

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

This thesaurus page includes all potential synonyms, words with the same meaning and similar terms for the word desperate.

Princeton's WordNet5.0 / 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), 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, 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, awful, frightening, despairing, direful, dreadful

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

Dictionary of English Synonymes0.0 / 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 Words0.0 / 0 votes

  1. desperateadjective

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

PPDB, the paraphrase database0.0 / 0 votes

  1. List of paraphrases for "desperate":

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

How to pronounce desperate?

How to say desperate in sign language?

Words popularity by usage frequency

rankingword
#1450grand
#2028wild
#2328determined
#4248mad
#4782regardless
#6496desperate
#6918terrible
#8491epic
#8576abandoned
#9775awful
#15603rash
#15811despair
#16120dire
#16835furious
#18232heroic
#18719daring
#20756frightening
#21679reckless
#22400hopeless
#22989fearful
#23190dreadful
#24491frantic
#24721expansive
#26052horrific
#27446dreaded
#38864horrendous
#43288hapless
#51495fearsome
#51684audacious
#52242distraught
#62097bereft
#75438despairing
#145234inextricable
#229588irremediable

How to use desperate in a sentence?

  1. Henry David Thoreau, "Walden":

    Why should we be in such desperate haste to succeed, and in such desperate enterprises? If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.

  2. Henry David Thoreau:

    Why should we be in such desperate hast to succeed, and in such desperate enterprises If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.

  3. Ahmed Korayem:

    Desperate times calls for more than simply desperate measures. It calls for putting one's values aside till the desperation subsides" --Mental Hell, Chapter 3

  4. Michel Eyquem de Montaigne:

    Marriage is like a cage one sees the birds outside desperate to get in, and those inside equally desperate to get out.

  5. Horatio Nelson:

    Desperate affairs require desperate remedies.


Translations for desperate

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"desperate." Synonyms.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2023. Web. 1 Oct. 2023. <https://www.synonyms.com/synonym/desperate>.

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