desperate
/ˈdɛs.p(ə.)ɹɪt/adjective, adverb, noun
desperate is spelled D-E-S-P-E-R-A-T-E. The wrong spelling people search most is desparate: about 380 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 10 of all searches for the word. Desperate is an adjective meaning “In dire need (of something); having a dire need or desire”.
How many letters and syllables are in desperate?
| Letters | 9: D-E-S-P-E-R-A-T-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 21 times per million words; the 4,153rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, desparate, about 380 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell desperate?
Desperate is spelled D-E-S-P-E-R-A-T-E. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 10 of the searches for desperate in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is desperate?
Desperate appears 21 times per million words in written English, the 4,153rd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce desperate?
- US /ˈdɛs.p(ə.)ɹɪt/
- /ˈdɛs.p(ə.)ɹɪt/
- [ˈdɛs.p(ə.)ɹɛt]
Desperate has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Grendelkhan-desperate.wav, En-us-desperate.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-desperate.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of desperate
- more desperate comparative
- desperater comparative, rare
- most desperate superlative
- desperatest superlative
- desperates plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does desperate mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
In dire need (of something); having a dire need or desire.
I hadn't eaten in two days and was desperate for food.
- 2
Being filled with, or in a state of, despair; hopeless.
I was so desperate at one point, I even went to see a loan shark.
- 3
Beyond hope, leaving little reason for hope; causing despair; extremely perilous.
a desperate disease; desperate fortune
- 4
Involving or employing extreme measures, without regard to danger or safety; reckless due to hopelessness.
He dove into the rushing waters in a desperate effort to save her life.
- 5
Extremely bad; outrageous, shocking; intolerable.
Whoever's writing the stuff on this has desperate handwriting, like they must be a doctor...
- 6
Intense; extremely intense.
adverb
- 1
USDesperately.
noun
- 1
A person in desperate circumstances or who is at the point of desperation, such as a down-and-outer, addict, etc.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Desperate in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| German | verzweifelt bemüht, sehnsuchtsvoll verlangend , verzweifelt , aussichtslos, hoffnungslos |
| Spanish | desesperado, que necesita desesperadamente |
| French | désespéré |
| Portuguese | desesperado |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does desperate come from?
From Middle English desperat(e) (“desperate”), borrowed from Latin dēspērātus, perfect passive participle of dēspērō (“to be without hope”), see -ate (adjective-forming suffix). The noun is derived from the adjective or from the Latin source through substantivization, see -ate (noun-forming suffix).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).