How to Use desperate in a Sentence

desperate

adjective

• He made a desperate bid to save his job.
• We could hear their desperate cries for help.
• The collapse of her business had made her desperate.
• They made one last desperate attempt to fight their way out.
• As the supply of food ran out, people became desperate.
• Ji-soo is desperate to talk to In-han, but In-han just wants to get away.
  — Kayti Burt, TIME, 7 June 2024
• Racing is in desperate need of stars and the chase for the Triple Crown is one way of getting them.
  — John Cherwa, Los Angeles Times, 6 June 2025
• They were supposed to be near death and in desperate need of end-of-life care to ease their pain.
  — Kim Christensen, Los Angeles Times, 24 Feb. 2022
• With nothing to lose, the pair seizes the chance to flee the city in a desperate attempt to start over elsewhere.
  — Scott Roxborough, The Hollywood Reporter, 9 Sep. 2022
• Durant wants out of Brooklyn, wants to join the Suns and the Suns want him but aren’t desperate for him.
  — Jeremy Cluff, The Arizona Republic, 17 Aug. 2022
• Crises bring out the good in people, the desire to help those more desperate.
  — Joel Achenbach, Anchorage Daily News, 12 Mar. 2023
• This is best saved for those who are desperate for the perfect sleep.
  — WIRED, 27 Nov. 2022
• The last thing viewers see is the phone call, and a desperate Deon running back into the smoky home to find the rest of the kids.
  — Kelly Wynne, Peoplemag, 6 June 2023
• Russia is on the verge of collapse and Trump/Vance are desperate to save them.
  — Dan Perry, Newsweek, 28 Feb. 2025
• The trio used palm tree branches to make their desperate plea.
  — Elizabeth Robinson, NBC News, 11 Apr. 2024
• The rule of law, in other words, was strong enough to stop a single desperate man.
  — Daniel Alarcón, The New Yorker, 9 Dec. 2022
• Grand Forks is not a moribund city in desperate need of work.
  — New York Times, 17 July 2022
• Those desperate for the Virgin Mary’s help shuffle across the square on their knees.
  — Viet Thanh Nguyen, The New Yorker, 9 Sep. 2023
• Poway missed a pair of desperate 3s in the final seconds.
  — Don Norcross, San Diego Union-Tribune, 17 Feb. 2024
• Who among us hasn’t made such phone calls to our mothers in desperate times?
  — Erica Gonzales, ELLE, 4 Aug. 2023
• People are desperate to get far away from crowds to be safe from the virus outbreak.
  — Jack Kelly, Forbes, 18 Mar. 2022
• The Parks Department said those large parks are in desperate need of cash.
  — John Tuohy, The Indianapolis Star, 3 Jan. 2024
• This is a desperate attempt to do an end run around the French people.
  — The Editors, National Review, 4 Apr. 2025
• Crucible and Gambit are in desperate need of new maps and have been for years now.
  — Paul Tassi, Forbes, 2 Aug. 2022
• Moshe was in the hospital for the fourth time, and his mother, Rae, was desperate.
  — Sarah Blesener, ProPublica, 28 Mar. 2022
• Both teams are in desperate need of wins on Thursday evening.
  — Catena Media, al, 19 Jan. 2023
• The person on the other end of the line is our man, desperate for any good news from his old stomping grounds.
  — Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 2 Aug. 2022
• In the meantime, health care workers with their feet on the ground are desperate for pockets of air.
  — Jay Baruch, STAT, 10 Nov. 2022
• Isak himself stressed his happiness in the spring and featured in club kit promotions, hardly the actions of someone desperate for a quick exit.
  — Harry De Cosemo, Forbes.com, 14 Aug. 2025
• Those who become addicted sometimes have a desperate need to hold on, even as the talents that brought renown begin to fade and eventually disappear.
  — Rick Kogan, Chicago Tribune, 5 Aug. 2025