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), 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 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. Matthew Smith of Fortify Rights:

   Governments in the region are playing human ping-pong, pushing boats back out to sea while claiming to crackdown on human trafficking, all governments have a responsibility to protect survivors of trafficking and asylum seekers. No government can credibly claim to be combating trafficking while simultaneously creating a ready pool of desperate and insecure people at sea.

2. British Prime Minister David Cameron:

   We've got to break the business model of the criminal smugglers and stop the desperate flow of people crammed into makeshift vessels from embarking on a fruitless and perilous journey.

3. Toby Gardner:

   The Amazon rainforest is firmly established in the psyche of many for decades now, and rightly so -- The Amazon rainforest's suffering a desperate plight of The Amazon rainforest own, but there are other ecosystems that are disappearing, and we learn about what they are too late.

4. Marco Rubio:

   What's happening, unfortunately, I think with some of these folks that you've mentioned, they're growing increasingly desperate and increasingly nasty and that's OK. I'm not running against them, I'm running for president.

5. Yacoub El Hillo:

   We saw people who are clearly malnourished, especially children, we saw people who are extremely thin, skeletons, that are now barely moving, we saw people that are desperate, people that are cold, people that angry, people that have almost lost hope that the world cares about their plight.