word-vault/dist/data/cards/de/desperate.json

A lightweight JavaScript package for English word definitions and collections.

{
    "term": "desperate",
    "partOfSpeech": "adjective",
    "ox3000": true,
    "cefr": "b2",
    "definitions": [
        {
            "senseNumber": 1,
            "definition": "feeling or showing that you have little hope and are ready to do anything without worrying about danger to yourself or others",
            "cefr": "b2",
            "ox3000": true,
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "The prisoners grew **increasingly desperate**."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Stores **are getting desperate** after two years of poor sales."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Somewhere out there was a desperate man, cold, hungry, hunted."
                },
                {
                    "text": "I heard sounds of a desperate struggle in the next room."
                },
                {
                    "text": "I was starting to get desperate."
                },
                {
                    "text": "She felt utterly desperate."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The sudden loss of his money had made him desperate."
                }
            ],
            "topics": ["Feelings"],
            "collocations": {
                "verbs": ["be", "feel", "look"],
                "adverb": ["extremely", "fairly", "very"],
                "preposition": ["about"]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 2,
            "definition": "giving little hope of success; tried when everything else has failed",
            "cefr": "b2",
            "ox3000": true,
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "He made a **desperate bid** for freedom."
                },
                {
                    "text": "She clung to the edge **in a desperate attempt** to save herself."
                },
                {
                    "text": "His increasing financial difficulties forced him to take **desperate measures**."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Doctors were fighting a desperate battle to save the little girl's life."
                },
                {
                    "text": "a desperate search for a way out"
                },
                {
                    "text": "Jake held up his hands in a desperate plea for calm."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Kaleil's final, desperate efforts to save the business come to naught."
                }
            ],
            "topics": ["Difficulty and failure"]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 3,
            "definition": "needing or wanting something very much",
            "sensetop": "desperate for somethingdesperate to do something",
            "labels": "(informal)",
            "cefr": "b2",
            "ox3000": true,
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "He was so desperate for a job he would have done anything.",
                    "contextForm": "desperate for something"
                },
                {
                    "text": "I'm desperate for a coffee."
                },
                {
                    "text": "to be desperate for money/help/cash/attention"
                },
                {
                    "text": "I was absolutely desperate to see her.",
                    "contextForm": "desperate to do something"
                },
                {
                    "text": "She was desperate to escape small town life."
                }
            ],
            "collocations": {
                "verbs": ["be", "feel", "look"],
                "adverb": ["extremely", "fairly", "very"],
                "preposition": ["about"]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 4,
            "definition": "extremely serious or dangerous",
            "cefr": "b2",
            "ox3000": true,
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "The children are **in desperate need** of love and attention."
                },
                {
                    "text": "They face a desperate shortage of clean water."
                },
                {
                    "text": "His financial situation was desperate."
                },
                {
                    "text": "He had died in desperate poverty."
                },
                {
                    "text": "American farmers are in desperate straits today."
                }
            ],
            "topics": ["Danger"],
            "collocations": {
                "verbs": ["be", "feel", "look"],
                "adverb": ["extremely", "fairly", "very"],
                "preposition": ["about"]
            }
        }
    ],
    "pronunciations": {
        "uk": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ˈdespərət/",
                "audio": "de/desperate/desperate__gb_3.mp3"
            }
        ],
        "us": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ˈdespərət/",
                "audio": "de/desperate/desperate__us_2_rr.mp3"
            }
        ]
    },
    "wordOrigin": "late Middle English (in the sense ‘in despair’): from Latin desperatus ‘deprived of hope’, past participle of desperare, from de- ‘down from’ + sperare ‘to hope’."
}