desperation
Hopeless urgency felt
Desperation is the state of having lost hope, often driving reckless or extreme action.
A desperate person sees no good options and may try anything: In desperation, she called her estranged father.
The word implies urgency born from circumstances that feel unendurable.
An act of desperation acknowledges the attempt is unlikely to succeed but feels necessary anyway.
Extremely serious or urgent
- plightDifficult, dangerous situation
- predicamentDifficult, unpleasant situation
- straitsConnecting water channels
- extremityOutermost part or limit
last-ditch · rock-bottom · brink · edge · precipice · cornered · trapped · dead-end
State without hope
- anguishIntense mental suffering
- distressSevere anxiety or suffering
- miseryIntense prolonged distress
- helplessnessLacking ability to cope
despondency · wretchedness · desolation · agony · torment · suffering · anguished · forlorn
Wildly anxious or desperate
- pressingRequiring immediate attention
- imperativeUnavoidably necessary
- criticalExpressing disapproval or importance
- compelledMade to act
driven · forced · pushed · pressured · demanding · intense · acute · immediate
Heedless or skin irritation
- impulsiveActing without deliberation
- heedlessCareless of consequences
- abandonLeave behind permanently
- wildNot domesticated or controlled
frantic · erratic · gamble · risk-taking · foolhardy · hasty · precipitous · grasping
Insufficiency of something needed
- starvationExtreme nutritional deprivation
- dehydrationExcessive fluid loss
- rationingLimiting distribution during scarcity
- foragingSeeking wild food sources
subsistence · scrounging · scavenging · hand-to-mouth · famine · deprivation · privation · want
dire
Extremely serious or urgent
- plightDifficult, dangerous situation
- predicamentDifficult, unpleasant situation
- straitsConnecting water channels
extremity · last-ditch · rock-bottom · brink · edge · precipice · cornered · trapped · dead-end · impasse
hopelessness
State without hope
helplessness · despondency · wretchedness · desolation · agony · torment · suffering · anguished · forlorn · distraught
frantic
Wildly anxious or desperate
- pressingRequiring immediate attention
- imperativeUnavoidably necessary
- criticalExpressing disapproval or importance
compelled · driven · forced · pushed · pressured · demanding · intense · acute · immediate · urgent
rash
Heedless or skin irritation
wild · frantic · erratic · gamble · risk-taking · foolhardy · hasty · precipitous · grasping · clutching
scarcity
Insufficiency of something needed
- starvationExtreme nutritional deprivation
- dehydrationExcessive fluid loss
- rationingLimiting distribution during scarcity
foraging · subsistence · scrounging · scavenging · hand-to-mouth · famine · deprivation · privation · want · need
- desireyearn, yearning, crave, craving, lust
- gambling psychologygambler's fallacy, loss aversion, illusion of control, chasing losses, near miss
- unhealthy attachmentclinginess, codependency, enmeshment, clingy, neediness
- gambling addictiongambling addiction, problem gambling, gambling disorder, compulsive gambling, gambling debt
- emotionsjoy, anger, fear, sadness, love
- hard timeshardship, struggle, struggling, unemployment, tough times
desperationhope
Desire for good outcomes
hopefulness · optimism · confidence · assurance · security
desperationcalm
Free from agitation
composure · equanimity · serenity · tranquility · peace
desperationcontentment
Peaceful satisfaction with circumstances
security · happiness · joy · fulfillment · satisfaction
- quiet desperationConcealed ongoing distress
- act of desperation
- desperation moveAction taken when cornered
despair, desperate, desperately, despairing, desperado, desperateness, desperadoes, desperados