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Desperate - 20 thesaurus results
| Main Entry: | desperate |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | reckless, outrageous |
| Synonyms: | atrocious, audacious, bold, careless, dangerous, daring, determined, devil-may-care, foolhardy, frantic, frenzied, furious, hasty, hazardous, headlong, headstrong, heinous, impetuous, incautious, madcap, monstrous, precipitate, rash, risky, scandalous, shocking, venturesome, violent, wild, death-defying |
| Antonyms: | confident, content, satisfied, secure, unworried |
| Main Entry: | desperate |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | extreme, intense |
| Synonyms: | acute, concentrated, critical, crucial, dire, drastic, exquisite, fierce, furious, great, terrible, urgent, vehement, vicious, violent, climacteric, very grave |
| Antonyms: | calm, content, contented, satisfactory, satisfied |
| Main Entry: | desperate |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | hopeless |
| Synonyms: | at end of one's rope, back to the wall, can't win, dead duck, despairing, despondent, desponding, downcast, forlorn, futile, gone*, goner, hard up*, in the soup, in the toilet, inconsolable, irrecoverable, irremediable, irretrievable, no-chance, no-way, no-win, running out of time, sad, sunk, up against it, up the creek, useless, vain, wretched |
| Antonyms: | hopeful |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | climactic/climacteric |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | decisive |
| Synonyms: | acute, critical, crucial, desperate, dire, paramount, peak, climactical |
| Antonyms: | indecisive, trivial, undecided, anticlimacteric, anticlimactic, bathetic |
| Main Entry: | crucial |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | critical, important |
| Synonyms: | acute, central, clamorous, compelling, deciding, decisive, desperate, dire, essential, imperative, insistent, momentous, necessary, pivotal, pressing, searching, showdown*, touchy, urgent, vital, climacteric, climatic, hanging by thread, high-priority, on thin ice, touch and go |
| Notes: | the words crucial, essential, and vital cannot be qualified (cannot be more or less...) |
| Antonyms: | trivial, uncritical, unimportant, inessential |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | despairing |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | upset, despondent |
| Synonyms: | anxious, at end of one's rope, blue, brokenhearted, can't win, cynical, dejected, depressed, desperate, disconsolate, downcast, forlorn, frantic, grief-stricken, hopeless, in pain, in the dumps, in the pits, in the soup, inconsolable, melancholic, melancholy, miserable, no-win, not a prayer, oppressed, pessimistic, sad, shot down, strabilious, suicidal, sunk, weighed down, wretched |
| Antonyms: | confident, encouraged, expectant, hopeful |
| Main Entry: | drastic |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | severe, extreme |
| Synonyms: | desperate, dire, exorbitant, extravagant, forceful, harsh, immoderate, radical, strong |
| Antonyms: | calm, collected, easy, mild |
| Main Entry: | forlorn |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | hopeless, inconsolable |
| Synonyms: | abandoned, alone, bereft, blue*, cheerless, cynical, defenseless, depressed, deserted, desolate, despairing, desperate, despondent, destitute, destroyed, disconsolate, dragging*, forgotten, forsaken, friendless, fruitless, futile, godforsaken*, helpless, homeless, lonely, lonesome, lost, miserable, oppressed, pathetic, pessimistic, pitiful, solitary, tragic, unhappy, vain, woebegone, wretched, comfortless, down and out, in the dumps, pitiable, weighed down |
| Antonyms: | cheerful, happy, hopeful, joyful, pleased, comforted, consolable |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | hopeless |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | futile, pessimistic |
| Synonyms: | bad, cynical, dejected, demoralized, despairing, desperate, despondent, disconsolate, discouraging, downhearted, fatal, forlorn, gone*, helpless, ill-fated, impossible, impracticable, incurable, irreparable, irrevocable, lost, menacing, pointless, sad, sinister, threatening, tragic, unavailing, unfortunate, useless, vain, woebegone, beyond recall, goner, in despair, irredeemable, irreversible, no-win, past hope, shot down, sunk, unachievable, unmitigable, up the creek, worsening |
| Antonyms: | auspicious, bright, encouraging, expectant, hopeful, optimistic, promising, propitious, rosy |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | last-ditch |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | last-minute |
| Synonyms: | desperate, final, frantic, do-or-die, eleventh-hour, last-chance, last-gasp, last-resort |
| Main Entry: | reckless |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | irresponsible in thought, deed |
| Synonyms: | adventurous, any which way, audacious, brash, breakneck, carefree, careless, daredevil, daring, desperate, devil-may-care*, fast and loose, feckless, foolhardy, harebrained, hasty, headlong, heedless, helter-skelter, hopeless, hotheaded*, ill-advised, imprudent, inattentive, incautious, inconsiderate, indiscreet, madcap, mindless, negligent, precipitate, rash, regardless, temerarious, thoughtless, venturesome, wild, adventuresome, kooky, overventuresome, playing with fire, uncareful, venturous |
| Antonyms: | careful, cautious, responsible, wary |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | scandalous |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | disreputable |
| Synonyms: | atrocious, backbiting, crying, defamatory, desperate, disgraceful, heinous, ignominious, infamous, libelous, monstrous, odious, opprobrious, outrageous, scurrilous, shameful, shocking, slanderous, unseemly, untrue, calumnious, detracting, detractive, gossiping, maligning, red hot, traducing, vilifying |
| Antonyms: | proper, reputable, respected |
| Main Entry: | shocking |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | outrageous; very surprising |
| Synonyms: | abominable, appalling, atrocious, awful, burning, crying, desperate, detestable, direful, disgraceful, disgusting, disquieting, distressing, dreadful, fearful, formidable, foul, frightful, ghastly, glaring, hateful, heinous, hideous, horrible, loathsome, monstrous, nauseating, odious, offensive, repulsive, revolting, scandalous, shameful, sickening, terrible, ugly, unspeakable, horrific, horrifying, stupefying |
| Antonyms: | calming, comforting, soothing |
| Main Entry: | terrible |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | bad, horrible |
| Synonyms: | abhorrent, appalling, atrocious, awe-inspiring, awesome, awful, beastly, dangerous, desperate, dire, disastrous, disturbing, dread, dreadful, extreme, fearful, frightful, ghastly, gruesome, harrowing, hateful, hideous, inconvenient, loathsome, monstrous, obnoxious, odious, offensive, poor, repulsive, revolting, rotten, serious, severe, shocking, unfortunate, unpleasant, unwelcome, vile, dreaded, horrendous, horrid, horrifying, petrifying, unnerving |
| Antonyms: | good, great, nice, wonderful |
| Main Entry: | unfortunate |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | unlucky, bad |
| Synonyms: | adverse, afflicted, broken, burdened, calamitous, cursed, damaging, deplorable, desperate, destitute, disastrous, doomed, forsaken, hapless, hopeless, ill-fated, inappropriate, inopportune, lamentable, luckless, pained, poor, regrettable, ruined, ruinous, star-crossed*, stricken, troubled, unbecoming, unfavorable, unhappy, unpropitious, unsuccessful, unsuitable, untoward, wretched, ill-starred, in a bad way, infelicitous, jinxed, out of luck, shattered, unprosperous |
| Antonyms: | fortunate, good, happy, lucky, timely |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | vehement |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | passionate, opinionated |
| Synonyms: | angry, ardent, concentrated, delirious, desperate, eager, earnest, emphatic, enthusiastic, exquisite, fervent, fervid, fierce, fiery, forceful, forcible, frantic, furious, hearty, heated, hot*, impassioned, impetuous, inflamed, intense, lively, potent, powerful, pronounced, rabid, strong, terrible, vicious, violent, wild, zealous, hopped up, hyper, on the make |
| Antonyms: | apathetic, indifferent, unpassionate |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | atrocious |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | outrageous; widely condemned |
| Synonyms: | awful, bad, barbaric, beastly, desperate, diabolical, fiendish, flagrant, gross*, hairy*, heinous, lousy, monstrous, nefarious, rotten, scandalous, shocking, villainous, wicked, godawful, grody |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | dire |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | urgent; crucial |
| Synonyms: | acute, burning, clamant, clamorous, critical, crying, desperate, drastic, exigent, extreme, immoderate, imperative, importunate, instant, pressing, climacteric |
| Antonyms: | trivial, unimportant |
| Main Entry: | furious |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | extremely angry, very mad |
| Synonyms: | bent*, beside oneself*, boiling*, crazed, demented, desperate, enraged, fierce, fit to be tied*, frantic, frenetic, frenzied, incensed, infuriated, insane, irrational, livid, maniac, rabid, raging, unreasonable, up in arms*, vehement, vicious, violent, wrathful, bent out of shape, browned off, bummed out, corybantic, fuming, hacked, hopping mad, maddened, on the warpath, smoking, steamed |
| Antonyms: | cheerful, elated, excited, exhilarated, happy, pleased |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | monstrous |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | unnatural, shocking |
| Synonyms: | aberrant, abnormal, atrocious, cruel, desperate, devilish, diabolical, disgraceful, dreadful, egregious, evil, fiendish, flagitious, foul, freakish, frightful, grotesque, gruesome, heinous, hellish, hideous, horrible, infamous, inhuman, intolerable, loathsome, macabre, morbid, obscene, odious, ominous, outrageous, preposterous, rank, satanic, scandalous, terrible, uncanny, unusual, vicious, villainous, horrendous, horrifying, miscreated, teratoid |
| Antonyms: | average, common, expected, natural, ordinary, standard |
Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition
Copyright © 2009 by the Philip Lief Group.
Cite This Source
Copyright © 2009 by the Philip Lief Group.
Cite This Source
Copyright © 2009, Dictionary.com, LLC. All rights reserved.

