desperation
Syllables: des·pe·ra·tion/ˌdɛspəˈɹeɪʃən/
desperation noun: the act of despairing or becoming desperate; a giving up of hope. Also the ellipsis of bladder desperation.
Noun
desperation (countable and uncountable, plural desperations)
- The act of despairing or becoming desperate; a giving up of hope.
- in desperation
- utter desperation
- A state of despair, or utter hopelessness; abandonment of hope.
- The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation.1854 August 9, Henry D[avid] Thoreau, “Economy”, in Walden; or, Life in the Woods, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, page 10
- Synonyms:
- despair, despondency, despond, hopelessness, unhope, wanhope
- Reckless fury.
- "The PM’s private reassurances are worthless given her track record of u-turns and her clear desperation to cling to power."2017 June 11, “DUP leader hails 'good progress' with Theresa May”, in The Scotsman, archived from the original on 10 Jul 2025
Also used as
desperation is also the ellipsis of bladder desperation.
desperation meaning in Hindi and Vietnamese
desperation in Hindi
- the act of despairing or becoming desperate; a giving up of hope
- हताशा hatāśā
desperation in Vietnamese
- the act of despairing or becoming desperate; a giving up of hope
- sự tuyệt vọng
Examples of desperation in a sentence
- She took advantage of his desperation.
- Benedict Donald’s desperation to get attention off the TrumpStein Files is showing daily.
- Friends say we app sceptics will download them at a certain age out of desperation.
Synonyms of desperation
Forms of desperation
| plural | desperations |
|---|
Origin of desperation
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.
Words formed from desperation
Phrases with desperation
Words that rhyme with desperation
- station
- collation
- accommodation
- presentation
- derivation
- information
- modulation
- translation
- application
- fixation
- generation
- orientation
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- citation
- combination
- communication
- conjugation
- constellation
- determination
- elevation
- operation
- relation
- reservation
- alternation
- condensation
- conversation
- deviation
- excavation
- foliation
- formation
- foundation
- incarnation
- interpretation
- representation
- retardation
- speculation
- termination
- abbreviation
- adaptation
- articulation
- bifurcation
- concentration
- congregation
- declination
- degradation
- expectation
- extenuation
- gradation
- observation
- population
- preparation
- reconciliation
- rotation
- separation
- situation
- vexation
- vindication
- accumulation
- administration
- aggregation
- appropriation
Questions about desperation
- What does desperation mean?
- Desperation means the act of despairing or becoming desperate; a giving up of hope.
- What is desperation in Hindi?
- Desperation in Hindi is हताशा (hatāśā). See Desperation meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is desperation?
- Desperation is a noun.
- How do you pronounce desperation?
- Desperation is pronounced /ˌdɛspəˈɹeɪʃən/.
- What is the plural of desperation?
- The plural of desperation is desperations.
Words near desperation in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: desperation (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-desperation.wav.
Cite this entry: “desperation.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/desperation. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.