Link Centre Dictionary

desperation

des·pe·ra·tion

UK/ˌdɛspəˈɹeɪʃən/ US/ˌdɛspɜrˈeɪʃɪn/ fairly common

noun

1.

a state in which everything seems wrong and will turn out badly

  • “they were rescued from despair at the last minute”
Synonyms
2.

desperate recklessness

  • “it was a policy of desperation”

Origin

From Middle English desperacion, desperacioun, desperation, disparacion, disperacion, disperacioun, dispiracioune, dysperacioun, from Middle French desperation and its etymon Latin dēspērātiō, dēspērātiōnis. By surface analysis, desperate + -ion.

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.