| noun | a person who is frightened and in need of help “they prey on the hopes of the desperate” |
| adjective | arising from or marked by despair or loss of hope “a despairing view of the world situation” |
| adjective | desperately determined “do-or-die revolutionaries” |
| adjective | (of persons) dangerously reckless or violent as from urgency or despair “a desperate criminal” |
| adjective | showing extreme courage; especially of actions courageously undertaken in desperation as a last resort; ; - G.C.Marshall “made a last desperate attempt to reach the climber” |
| adjective | showing extreme urgency or intensity especially because of great need or desire “felt a desperate urge to confess” |
| adjective | fraught with extreme danger; nearly hopeless; ; - G.C.Marshall “a desperate illness” |
| despair | verb | abandon hope; give up hope; lose heart |