English Explanatory Dictionary

desperation

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. The act of despairing or becoming desperate; a giving up of hope.
  2. A state of despair, or utter hopelessness; abandonment of hope.
  3. Reckless fury.
  4. Ellipsis of bladder desperation.

Pronunciation

/ˌdɛspəˈɹeɪʃən/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-desperation.wav

Word forms

desperation desperations

Etymology

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.

Synonyms

despair despondency desperation despond hopelessness unhope wanhope

Derived words

semidesperation
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on D Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary