desperately

adverb

des·​per·​ate·​ly ˈde-sp(ə-)rət-lē 

-spərt-

1

: in a way that involves despair, extreme measures, or rashness : in a desperate manner

struggling desperately

desperately crying out

2

: extremely, terribly

desperately tired

desperately important

Synonyms of desperately

• extremely
• terribly
• badly
• incredibly
• very
• too
• so
• really
• damn
• damned
• highly
• severely
• seriously
• intensely
• that
• greatly
• far
• especially
• wildly
• fiercely
• heavily
• much

Examples of desperately in a Sentence

all of a sudden everything went desperately wrong

Recent Examples on the Web

That’s partly because of changes in visa rules that the previous Conservative government introduced to help out sectors that desperately needed migrant labor, such as workers to care for the elderly. —ABC News, 21 June 2026

Data center operators, who desperately need community and government buy-in are supporting this initiative. —Sabbir Rangwala, Forbes.com, 21 June 2026

Senegal and Sadio Mané, on the other hand, desperately need a win. —Los Angeles Times, 21 June 2026

The losses have left little-to-no margin for error in the second of three Group J matches for Algeria and Jordan, who desperately need a result to have a shot to reach the Round of 32. —Darren Sabedra, Mercury News, 21 June 2026

Word History

Etymology

desperate + -ly entry 2

First Known Use

circa 1547, in the meaning defined at sense 1