des·per·ate / ˈdespərit/ • adj. feeling, showing, or involving a hopeless sense that a situation is so bad as to be impossible to deal with: a desperate sadness enveloped Ruth. ∎  (of an act or attempt) tried in despair or when everything else has failed; having little hope of success: drugs used in a desperate attempt to save his life. ∎  (of a situation) extremely bad, serious, or dangerous: there is a desperate shortage of teachers. ∎  (of a person) having a great need or desire for something: I am desperate for a cigarette | the government is desperate to clean up Rio's streets. ∎  (of a person or fight) violent or dangerous: a desperate criminal a desperate struggle.DERIVATIVES: des·per·ate·ness n.

desperate Desperate Dan the enormous stubble-chinned cowboy in a cartoon strip in the Dandy comic, noted for his fondness for cow pies containing the whole animal.
desperate diseases must have desperate remedies in a difficult or dangerous situation it may be necessary to take extreme and risky measures, recorded from the mid 16th century. The comment ‘A desperate disease requires a dangerous remedy’ has been attributed to Guy Fawkes (1570–1606), conspirator in the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. The proverb is found in many variant forms, and can be compared with a Latin saying, ‘extremis malis extrema remedia [extreme remedies for extreme ills].’

Desperate ★★½ 1947

An honest truck driver witnesses a mob crime and must escape with his wife in this minor film noir. Eventually, the law is on his tail, too. 73m/B VHS . Steve Brodie, Audrey Long, Raymond Burr, Jason Robards Sr., Douglas Fowley, William Challee, Ilka Gruning, Nan Leslie; D: Anthony Mann.

desperate XV. — L. dēspērātus despaired, OF. pp. of dēspērāre despair, f. DE- 6 + spērāre hope; see -ATE 2.
So desperation XIV. — OF. — L.