desperation
noun
Simple meaning
A state of despair, or utter hopelessness.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
dehsperayshuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
dɛspɚˈeɪʃən
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
The act of despairing or becoming desperate; a giving up of hope.
Desperate recklessness
“It was a policy of desperation.”
A paraphilia or sexual practice involving arousal from the feeling of one or someone else having a full urinary bladder.
Reckless fury.
A state of despair, or utter hopelessness; abandonment of hope.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Formality
- Technical
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The act of despairing or becoming desperate; a giving up of hope.
Used this way, desperation is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly warm, approving pull. It carries warmth, so it reads as personal rather than detached.
- Emotional tone
- Positive
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Hopeful and forward-looking
- Usage feel
- Warm and expressive
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use desperation
- “It was a policy of desperation.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Despairing / despair
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.