adj.
- feeling, showing, or involving despair.
▸tried in despair or when everything else has failed.
- extremely bad or serious:
a desperate shortage.
-
(often desperate for/to do)
having a great need or desire for something.
- violent or dangerous:
a desperate criminal.
Derivative
- desperately adv.
- desperateness n.
Etymology
ME: from L. desperatus ‘deprived of hope’, past part. of desperare (see despair).