as in hopeless
feeling or showing no hope
desperate cancer patients who are vulnerable to the claims of unscrupulous quacks
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Recent Examples of desperate
Clearly, the games will never end because people will always be desperate to win money.
—
EW.com, 27 June 2025
On the streets of L.A., Blanchett’s character was dressed in the Recruiter’s familiar suit and packed an equally mean wind-up slap, this time across the face of a desperate American who no doubt is being recruited for the deadly Games.
—Jackie Strause, HollywoodReporter, 27 June 2025
Sonny’s last shot for FI success comes courtesy of dapper ex-teammate Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem), the desperate owner of a basement-dwelling team destined to be sold off.
—Randy Myers, Mercury News, 25 June 2025
Someone who's absolutely desperate, just seeing that there's no other choice.
—Sasha Pezenik, ABC News, 18 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for desperate
EW.com, 27 June 2025
On the streets of L.A., Blanchett’s character was dressed in the Recruiter’s familiar suit and packed an equally mean wind-up slap, this time across the face of a desperate American who no doubt is being recruited for the deadly Games.
—Jackie Strause, HollywoodReporter, 27 June 2025
Sonny’s last shot for FI success comes courtesy of dapper ex-teammate Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem), the desperate owner of a basement-dwelling team destined to be sold off.
—Randy Myers, Mercury News, 25 June 2025
Someone who's absolutely desperate, just seeing that there's no other choice.
—Sasha Pezenik, ABC News, 18 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for desperate
Recent Examples of Synonyms for desperate
Adjective
-
Those who are convinced they’re trapped stay helpless and hopeless.—
Amy Morin,
CNBC,
12 June 2025
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In a world where the powerful increasingly act with impunity, taking fictional villains to task makes sense, a form of Hollywood wish fulfillment for those who feel stuck or hopeless.—
Whitney Friedlander,
Los Angeles Times,
11 June 2025
Adjective
-
The root of the fallout was the Who (and specifically Daltrey) being unhappy with Starkey’s performance when the band played a pair of Teenage Cancer Trust charity shows at London’s Royal Albert Hall in March.—
Daniel Kreps,
Rolling Stone,
22 June 2025
-
On Friday, Devers alluded to being unhappy with how the Red Sox treated him.—
Gabrielle Starr,
Boston Herald,
20 June 2025
Adjective
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Two screenshots from the video showing Ollie was a sad facial expression.—
Lucy Notarantonio,
MSNBC Newsweek,
19 June 2025
-
The building directly across the street stands in sad disrepair, its windows smashed, swathed in graffiti, a front garage door hangs half-open.—
Eric Adler,
Kansas City Star,
19 June 2025
Adjective
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And neither Hutchison nor the millions watching were left disappointed, as Messi curled his strike into the top right-hand corner past a despairing Claudio Ramos.—
Conor O'Neill,
New York Times,
20 June 2025
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Daily Horoscope for June 15, 2025 You’re allowed to feel disappointed, hurt and even betrayed.—
Eric Thomas,
The Orlando Sentinel,
17 June 2025
Adjective
-
The arc of the subject’s life is evoked through steadily darkening, tightening mood, with certain scenes and setups replicated to variously despairing effect, from tacitly shifting points of view.—
Guy Lodge,
Variety,
28 May 2025
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That same investigation may find the veteran was despairing, had just gone through a divorce or something along those lines.—
Greg Wehner,
FOXNews.com,
24 May 2025
Adjective
-
Too often, leaders are stuck between moral maximalism and cynical cost-cutting.—
HEC Paris Insights,
Forbes.com,
25 June 2025
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Mamdani proposes to pay for these splendid gifts to the city’s voters by raising taxes even further on the city’s top income earners, in the cynical belief that those who make up his tax base are stuck there, cannot flee, and are thus cows to be helplessly milked.—
The Editors,
National Review,
25 June 2025
Adjective
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On crutches, all Haliburton could do after the game was greet his despondent teammates in a Paycomm Center hallway.—
Sean Gregory,
Time,
23 June 2025
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Just the kind of leadership despondent Democrats need.—
Mark Z. Barabak,
Los Angeles Times,
22 June 2025
Adjective
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Once the game is over, pink soldiers approach Yong-sik to shoot him and ensure that he’s eliminated, despite Geum-ja’s heartbroken pleas.—
Jennifer Zhan,
Vulture,
27 June 2025
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And before long, his pig is stolen, leaving him heartbroken.—
Travis Bean,
Forbes.com,
27 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Desperate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/desperate. Accessed 5 Jul. 2025.
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