last-ditch
When nothing else works
Last-ditch describes a final, desperate attempt when all other options have failed: a last-ditch effort to save the company, last-ditch negotiations before the strike.
The image comes from military fortification—the last ditch being the final defensive position before defeat.
The phrase nearly always modifies effort, attempt, or similar nouns.
Desperately crucial situation
- all-outWith complete effort
- finalLast and decisive
- desperateDriven by urgent need
- franticWildly anxious or desperate
eleventh-hour · make-or-break · clutch · gamble · wild-card · stopgap · endgame
do-or-die
Desperately crucial situation
frantic · eleventh-hour · make-or-break · clutch · gamble · wild-card · stopgap · endgame
attempt
Effort to accomplish
- struggleLabored effort against resistance
- endeavorPurposeful sustained attempt
- pushForce something away
exertion · striving · scramble · rally · salvage · rescue · bid · fight · charge · offensive
trench
Long narrow excavation
- fortificationStrengthening defenses or nutrients
- standUpright support structure
- strongholdFortified place of defense
bunker · redoubt · barricade · rampart · fallback · perimeter · holdout · bastion · bulwark · entrenchment
last-ditchinitial
Name's opening letter
primary · opening · first-line · preliminary · front-line
last, lasting, ditch, lasts, lastly, lasted, ditched, ditches, ditching