How to Use desperate in a Sentence

desperate

adjective
  • He made a desperate bid to save his job.
  • We could hear their desperate cries for help.
  • The collapse of her business had made her desperate.
  • They made one last desperate attempt to fight their way out.
  • As the supply of food ran out, people became desperate.
  • Ji-soo is desperate to talk to In-han, but In-han just wants to get away.
    — Kayti Burt, TIME, 7 June 2024
  • With nothing to lose, the pair seizes the chance to flee the city in a desperate attempt to start over elsewhere.
    — Scott Roxborough, The Hollywood Reporter, 9 Sep. 2022
  • Durant wants out of Brooklyn, wants to join the Suns and the Suns want him but aren’t desperate for him.
    — Jeremy Cluff, The Arizona Republic, 17 Aug. 2022
  • Crises bring out the good in people, the desire to help those more desperate.
    — Joel Achenbach, Anchorage Daily News, 12 Mar. 2023
  • This is best saved for those who are desperate for the perfect sleep.
    — WIRED, 27 Nov. 2022
  • The last thing viewers see is the phone call, and a desperate Deon running back into the smoky home to find the rest of the kids.
    — Kelly Wynne, Peoplemag, 6 June 2023
  • Russia is on the verge of collapse and Trump/Vance are desperate to save them.
    — Dan Perry, Newsweek, 28 Feb. 2025
  • The trio used palm tree branches to make their desperate plea.
    — Elizabeth Robinson, NBC News, 11 Apr. 2024
  • The rule of law, in other words, was strong enough to stop a single desperate man.
    — Daniel Alarcón, The New Yorker, 9 Dec. 2022
  • Those desperate for the Virgin Mary’s help shuffle across the square on their knees.
    — Viet Thanh Nguyen, The New Yorker, 9 Sep. 2023
  • Poway missed a pair of desperate 3s in the final seconds.
    — Don Norcross, San Diego Union-Tribune, 17 Feb. 2024
  • Who among us hasn’t made such phone calls to our mothers in desperate times?
    — Erica Gonzales, ELLE, 4 Aug. 2023
  • The Parks Department said those large parks are in desperate need of cash.
    — John Tuohy, The Indianapolis Star, 3 Jan. 2024
  • Crucible and Gambit are in desperate need of new maps and have been for years now.
    — Paul Tassi, Forbes, 2 Aug. 2022
  • Both teams are in desperate need of wins on Thursday evening.
    — Catena Media, al, 19 Jan. 2023
  • The person on the other end of the line is our man, desperate for any good news from his old stomping grounds.
    — Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 2 Aug. 2022
  • In the meantime, health care workers with their feet on the ground are desperate for pockets of air.
    — Jay Baruch, STAT, 10 Nov. 2022
  • In times like these, even good people can end up in desperate straits when things go bad.
    — Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 15 May 2023
  • This is the first meeting between the teams this season, with both desperate for a win.
    — Detroit Free Press, 6 Nov. 2022
  • The 96-year-old historic Black church is in desperate need of repair.
    — Deborah Barfield Berry, USA TODAY, 27 Feb. 2025
  • The host is the one person on Oscar night who isn’t allowed to look desperate.
    — Vulture, 13 Mar. 2023
  • Growing desperate, Tepper wanted the team to move up to the No. 1 spot in the draft and land a quarterback.
    — Steve Reed, The Enquirer, 9 Jan. 2024
  • The team is in desperate need of productive guard play.
    — Rahat Huq, Forbes, 28 Nov. 2024
  • On the other hand, the Heat are in the midst of a desperate play-in race, needing something in the moment from the 30-year-old former All-Star.
    — Ira Winderman, Sun Sentinel, 12 Mar. 2025
  • Capstone is financing the film about an ex-black ops team who reunite to pull off a desperate heist to save the life of their leader’s (Beckinsale) eight-year-old daughter.
    — Andreas Wiseman, Deadline, 13 Mar. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'desperate.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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