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desperation

[ des-puh-rey-shuh n ]

/ ˌdɛs pəˈreɪ ʃən /

SEE SYNONYMS FOR desperation ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

the state of being desperate or of having the recklessness of despair.

the act or fact of despairing; despair.

Origin of desperation

1325–75; Middle English desperacioun < Latin dēspērātiōn- (stem of dēspērātiō). See desperate, -ion

synonym study for desperation

1. See despair.

Words nearby desperation

despatch, despeciation, despenser, desperado, desperate, desperation, despicable, despise, despite, despiteful, despiteous

Example sentences from the Web for desperation

Stories of war, death, fear and desperation do not have happy endings.

Inside the Smuggling Networks Flooding Europe with Refugees |Barbie Latza Nadeau |December 15, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
What does our desperation to get a nuclear deal at all costs say to the modern-day Iranian Solzhenitsyns rotting in Evin prison?

Iran’s Horrific Human-Rights Record |Sen. Mark Kirk, Sen. Marco Rubio |November 7, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
They were shouting with a mixture of fury and desperation about their families in Kobani, under siege just across the line.

When ISIS Is An Excuse For A Police State |Jamie Dettmer |October 18, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
Perhaps, instead, they had reached a desperation we can't quite fathom.

The Fear That Killed Eight Ebola Workers |Abby Haglage |September 20, 2014 |DAILY BEAST

They allowed us to capture the complicated relationship between poverty and family bonds, between community pride and desperation.

Filming a Beautiful Town in Decay: ‘Rich Hill’ and the Elusive American Dream |Tracy Droz Tragos |July 27, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
This is it indeed which the devil desireth; he can allow you grief and desperation, but not to amend.

A Christian Directory (Volume 1 of 4) |Richard Baxter
I felt that desperation and recklessness of poverty which only a pauper knows.

Redburn. His First Voyage |Herman Melville
He realized with desperation that every word the other spoke was true, that he was helpless unless he could be convincing.

The Key to Yesterday |Charles Neville Buck
But that unvarying scrutiny was harder to bear, and at last, in desperation, she made a quivering appeal.

Rosa Mundi and Other Stories |Ethel M. Dell
In extremes of desperation one clutches at the semblance of a straw.

The Dragon Painter |Mary McNeil Fenollosa

British Dictionary definitions for desperation

desperation

/ (ˌdɛspəˈreɪʃən) /

noun

desperate recklessness

the act of despairing or the state of being desperate