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
• 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
• 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
• 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
• In times like these, even good people can end up in desperate straits when things go bad.
  — Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 15 May 2023
• This is the first meeting between the teams this season, with both desperate for a win.
  — Detroit Free Press, 6 Nov. 2022
• The 96-year-old historic Black church is in desperate need of repair.
  — Deborah Barfield Berry, USA TODAY, 27 Feb. 2025
• The host is the one person on Oscar night who isn’t allowed to look desperate.
  — Vulture, 13 Mar. 2023
• At a time when the city is desperate for new leadership to turn the tide, critical levers of mayoral power are being lost.
  — Forrest Claypool, Chicago Tribune, 14 Mar. 2025
• Capstone is financing the film about an ex-black ops team who reunite to pull off a desperate heist to save the life of their leader’s (Beckinsale) eight-year-old daughter.
  — Andreas Wiseman, Deadline, 13 Mar. 2025