as in despair
utter loss of hope
during the famine her desperation drove her to do things she wouldn't have normally considered
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Recent Examples of desperation
The pair’s lowlights of struggling through contact on the low block are mostly a symptom of desperation — especially last season, when the Sky offense lacked ball movement and rhythm.
—
Julia Poe, Chicago Tribune, 31 May 2025
Years of economic dysfunction have left the country’s once-thriving middle class in a state of desperation.
—Kareem Chehayeb, Los Angeles Times, 8 June 2025
Based on Spoelstra’s success in driving the Heat to and through the playoffs, nothing dramatic needed here, certainly nothing like the Knicks’ act of desperation with Thibodeau.
—Ira Winderman, Sun Sentinel, 7 June 2025
Almost a decade later, seven weeks before the 2017 election, with Labour facing virtual annihilation, Ardern was thrust into leadership in an act of desperation.
—Rachel Morris, New Yorker, 5 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for desperation
Julia Poe, Chicago Tribune, 31 May 2025
Years of economic dysfunction have left the country’s once-thriving middle class in a state of desperation.
—Kareem Chehayeb, Los Angeles Times, 8 June 2025
Based on Spoelstra’s success in driving the Heat to and through the playoffs, nothing dramatic needed here, certainly nothing like the Knicks’ act of desperation with Thibodeau.
—Ira Winderman, Sun Sentinel, 7 June 2025
Almost a decade later, seven weeks before the 2017 election, with Labour facing virtual annihilation, Ardern was thrust into leadership in an act of desperation.
—Rachel Morris, New Yorker, 5 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for desperation
Recent Examples of Synonyms for desperation
despair
Noun
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So many of the adults who held our communities together have been lost to mass incarceration, to addictions—diseases of despair—as drugs have replaced jobs and hope in our neighborhoods, often turning them into war zones.—
Asha Bandele,
Essence,
25 June 2025
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The best dystopian films are the most plausible ones, and Children Of Men feels all too real, from the political factions to the way humanity both descends into despair and miraculously comes together to help those who need it most.—
Erik Kain,
Forbes.com,
22 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Desperation.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/desperation. Accessed 5 Jul. 2025.
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