desperately

adverb

ˈde-sp(ə-)rət-lē How to pronounce desperately (audio)
Definition of desperatelynext
as in extremely
to a great degree all of a sudden everything went desperately wrong

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of desperately The restaurant chain’s reputation for remaining open when people desperately needed a place to warm up, charge devices and grab a hot meal became a fairly reliable — albeit amusing — resource to help track recovery efforts. — ABC News, 8 Oct. 2026 The latest drought monitor has been released, and while drought conditions have improved, DFW still desperately needs the rain. — CBS News, 8 Oct. 2026 Meanwhile, Burgess’ young niece Zoey (Aimee Laurence) suffers a crushed liver in the explosion and desperately needs a transplant. — Will Harris, Entertainment Weekly, 7 Oct. 2026 Mahomes took a shotgun snap, rolled right to evade pressure and then desperately fired incomplete. — Sam McDowell, Kansas City Star, 5 Oct. 2026 See All Example Sentences for desperately
Recent Examples of Synonyms for desperately
  1. extremely
  2. terribly
  3. badly
  4. incredibly
  5. very
  6. too
  7. so
  8. really
Adverb
  • Experts attribute the extremely warm ocean temperatures that fueled Rachel, which peaked as a Category 3 hurricane, in part to El Niño.
    — Noah Haggerty, Los Angeles Times, 12 Oct. 2026
  • All this makes the Home app very easy to use, but extremely underpowered.
    — Jennifer Pattison Tuohy, The Verge, 12 Oct. 2026
Definition of extremely
Adverb
  • Another issue is that AI detectors are still not terribly reliable, which Vara addresses in her piece, citing a number of studies to bolster the credentials of Pangram.
    — James Folta, Literary Hub, 14 Oct. 2026
  • Probably nothing too terribly bad, especially since Denver has done it without much offensive consistency.
    — Parker Gabriel, Denver Post, 7 Oct. 2026
Definition of terribly
Adverb
  • The Anthropic report is the latest warning issued by the company concerning rogue AI agents operating on their own and sometimes behaving badly.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 13 Oct. 2026
  • Although the house is still standing, the interior was left so badly damaged that the family can no longer live there.
    — Joan Murray, CBS News, 13 Oct. 2026
Definition of badly
Adverb
  • Indeed, the diamond was quite an exquisite addition, considering that such gemstones over 10 carats are incredibly rare.
    — Julia Teti, Footwear News, 12 Oct. 2026
  • For now, this perfect mix of burgeoning youth and senior leadership has come together to create an incredibly deep team with big dreams.
    — Daniel Sperry, Kansas City Star, 11 Oct. 2026
Definition of incredibly
Adverb
  • One of the other things that Claude noticed was that these array of associated reverse transcriptases seem to be isolated to jumbo phages, which have very large genomes for bacteriophage.
    — Adam Kovac, Scientific American, 14 Oct. 2026
  • There’s very few cases where a fan actually gets to stand beside the man and add onto the man’s legacy.
    — Christine Imarenezor, VIBE.com, 13 Oct. 2026
Definition of very
Adverb
  • There were some surprises in the rankings, too, with the Fendi Spy bag seeing a 127 percent spike in average resale value amid this year’s Y2K revival.
    — Samantha Conti, Footwear News, 14 Oct. 2026
  • But while fans wait to see what happens, Davies, despite no longer being involved in the show, assured that a new series was definitely happening and there wouldn’t be too long to wait.
    — Alex Ritman, Variety, 14 Oct. 2026
Definition of too
Adverb
  • And my wife, Amisha, who had never seemed so tired, had also never looked so full of unabashed love.
    — Raj Panjabi, Time, 13 Oct. 2026
  • In a season where layering and personal styling are so important, the belt is an essential accessory.
    — Sandra Salibian, Footwear News, 13 Oct. 2026
Definition of so
Adverb
  • The phone encounters were conceived before the pandemic, but once quarantine began, the idea of entertaining people through interactive phone plays really began to pick up steam.
    — Chris Willman, Variety, 11 Oct. 2026
  • But really, traveling around with my best friends was such an incredibly bonding, grounding experience.
    — Liam Hess, Vogue, 10 Oct. 2026
Definition of really

Browse Nearby Words

desperate
desperately
desperateness
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Cite this Entry

“Desperately.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/desperately. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.

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