different between woeful vs desperate

English

Alternative forms

• (obsolete) woful, wofull

Etymology

From Middle English woful, waful, equivalent to woe +? -ful. Compare Old English w?l?? (“woeful”), Old English t?onful (“woeful”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?w??f?l/

Adjective

woeful (comparative woefuller, superlative woefullest)

1. Full of woe; sorrowful; distressed with grief or calamity.

   • How many woeful widows left to bow / To sad disgrace!

2. Bringing calamity, distress, or affliction.

   a woeful event

   a woeful lack of restraint

3. Lamentable, deplorable.
4. Wretched; paltry; poor.

Derived terms

• woefully
• woefulness

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:lamentable

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin d?sp?r?tus, past participle of d?sp?r? (“to be without hope”)

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?d?sp(?)??t/

Adjective

desperate (comparative more desperate, superlative most desperate)

1. In dire need of something.

   I hadn't eaten in two days and was desperate for food.

2. Being filled with, or in a state of despair; hopeless.

3. Without regard to danger or safety; reckless; furious.

4. Beyond hope; causing despair; extremely perilous; irretrievable.

5. Extreme, in a bad sense; outrageous.
6. Extremely intense.

   (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Noun

desperate (plural desperates)

1. A person in desperate circumstances or who is at the point of desperation, such as a down-and-outer, addict, etc.

Derived terms

• desperation

Related terms

• despair
• desperado

Translations

Anagrams

• departees

Danish

Adjective

desperate

1. plural and definite singular attributive of desperat

Latin

Verb

d?sp?r?te

1. second-person plural present active imperative of d?sp?r?

References

• desperate in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• desperate in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette

Norwegian Bokmål

Adjective

desperate

1. definite singular of desperat
2. plural of desperat

Norwegian Nynorsk

Adjective

desperate

1. definite singular of desperat
2. plural of desperat