1,400 new words in our dictionary! — Parasocial, glow-up, promposal & more
1,400 new words in our dictionary! — More

desperateness

noun

Definition of desperatenessnext
as in desperation

Related Words

Relevance

Dissimilar Words

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for desperateness
  1. desperation
  2. panic
  3. anguish
  4. distress
  5. discomfort
  6. fear
  7. dismay
  8. anxiety
Noun
  • What new extremes of desperation will working artists sink to in this economy?
    — Kat Chen, Condé Nast Traveler, 23 Sep. 2026
  • As with all of our best and worst inventions, its motive has always been desperation.
    — Dan Piepenbring, Harpers Magazine, 22 Sep. 2026
Definition of desperation
Noun
  • Still, there’s no panic from the ladies in seafoam even after watching two stars hobbled in a matter of days as the regular season ended.
    — Fiifi Frimpong, New York Daily News, 24 Sep. 2026
  • Imagine the panic for the world’s most important fuel if the US bans exports.
    — Matt Egan, CNN Money, 22 Sep. 2026
Definition of panic
Noun
  • Love is actually heartbreak, pain, anguish, but the myth of love is happiness and joy.
    — Norah O'Donnell, CBS News, 20 Sep. 2026
  • The organization said the discoveries had deepened the anguish of families searching for loved ones.
    — Mogomotsi Magome, Los Angeles Times, 17 Sep. 2026
Definition of anguish
Noun
  • In years past, department statistics showed at least a third of all police shootings involved someone with obvious signs of emotional distress.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 25 Sep. 2026
  • The suit claims damages of false imprisonment, battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
    — Theresa Clift, Sacbee.com, 25 Sep. 2026
Definition of distress
Noun
  • That discomfort doesn’t automatically mean the decision is wrong.
    — Tarot.com, Sun Sentinel, 20 Sep. 2026
  • In the case of immigration, Salazar is an outlier in her outspokenness but hardly alone in suggesting discomfort with the aggressive tactics of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
    — David Sivak, The Washington Examiner, 20 Sep. 2026
Definition of discomfort
Noun
  • Retaliation is not unheard of in higher education and fear of scheming colleagues is common.
    — Kevin Rennie, Hartford Courant, 26 Sep. 2026
  • That’s a major shift from earlier this year, when fears of AI disruption, concerns about Copilot, and heavy data center spending weighed on the stock.
    — Alexa LoMonaco, CNBC, 26 Sep. 2026
Definition of fear
Noun
  • At the same time, Gen Z is drinking less alcohol at bars and clubs, to the dismay of the night life industry.
    — Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez, Fortune, 20 Sep. 2026
  • The cursed island town in Widow’s Bay has summoned all kinds of supernatural entities, much to the dismay of its residents.
    — Larisha Paul, Rolling Stone, 15 Sep. 2026
Definition of dismay
Noun
  • There were also savings for people with diabetes, depression, and anxiety.
    — Priyanka D McCluskey, NPR, 26 Sep. 2026
  • All this against the backdrop of near-daily drone incursions into European airspace, fueling anxiety in eastern border towns.
    — Yuliya Talmazan, NBC news, 26 Sep. 2026
Definition of anxiety
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.

Browse Nearby Words

desperately
desperateness
desperation
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Desperateness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/desperateness. Accessed 28 Sep. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of fungible

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

More Commonly Mispronounced Words

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

7 Great Ways to Say 'Great'

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

Why do we 'bury the lede?'
See More

Popular

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

7 Great Ways to Say 'Great'

The Longest Long Words List
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
image of the words cracker fly and sale arranged in a triangle with the word fire in the middle
Triple Play Quiz Find the word that pairs with each of the three g...
See All