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

Golf desperately needs to move away from the Tiger Woods era, but that may not happen for another 20 years. —Mac Engel april 9, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 9 Apr. 2026

The daughter of a Michigan woman who went missing in the Bahamas during a nighttime boat ride with her husband is desperately seeking answers as the search for her mother has entered day three. —Cristian Benavides, CBS News, 8 Apr. 2026

Its burgundy spine wore out many years ago, so layer on layer of tape tries desperately to cradle over 60 pages of newspaper cuttings documenting every word ever published about her son, Jamie Mitchell. —Jordan Campbell, New York Times, 8 Apr. 2026

Stainton told jurors Horner then returned to work, drove the same truck and continued delivering packages as the community searched desperately for the missing child. —Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, FOXNews.com, 8 Apr. 2026

Word History

Etymology

desperate + -ly entry 2

First Known Use

circa 1547, in the meaning defined at sense 1