HOW TO PRONOUNCE
desperate
/ˈdɛspɹɪt/
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American Pronunciation Guide · 0:55
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Stress DES.
DES-prit has two syllables, joining p and r. A fuller three-syllable pronunciation also occurs.
2 syllables · Stress on syllable 1
Also listed with 3 syllables.
TRY SAYING
“They made a desperate attempt to catch the train.”
APG practice sentence · CC BY-SA 4.0
CMU Pronouncing Dictionary ↗What does desperate mean?
adjective
- In dire need (of something); having a dire need or desire.
- Being filled with, or in a state of, despair; hopeless.
- Beyond hope, leaving little reason for hope; causing despair; extremely perilous.
More meanings (5)
adjective
- Involving or employing extreme measures, without regard to danger or safety; reckless due to hopelessness.
- Extremely bad; outrageous, shocking; intolerable.
- Intense; extremely intense.
adverb
- Desperately.
noun
- A person in desperate circumstances or who is at the point of desperation, such as a down-and-outer, addict, etc.
Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0
IPA pronunciation
/ˈdɛspɹɪt/
Pronunciation used in the listening tip.
CMU Pronouncing Dictionary ↗Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.
In the pages of books
See this word in context.
There was a desperate tangle of wood and water and a swampy patch we never should have found our way across alone.
I had wanted to, but I had not been willing to take desperate chances, and had always dissuaded the king from them.
More book examples (3)
Why, boy, although our mother, unadvised, Gave you a dancing-rapier by your side, Are you so desperate grown to threat your friends?
In face of this mean and mighty victory, in face of this victory which counts none victorious, this desperate soldier stands erect.
She paused, and Charity, seized with a desperate longing to escape, rose to her feet and held out one of the bills.