desperately
adverb
, -spərt-\
Definition of desperately
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Synonyms & Antonyms for desperately
Synonyms
achingly, almighty, archly, awful, awfully, badly, beastly, blisteringly, bone, colossally, corking, cracking, damn, damned, dang, deadly, eminently, enormously, especially, ever, exceedingly (also exceeding), extra, extremely, fabulously, fantastically, far, fiercely, filthy, frightfully, full, greatly, heavily, highly, hugely, immensely, incredibly, intensely, jolly, majorly, mightily, mighty, monstrous [chiefly dialect], mortally, most, much, particularly, passing, rattling, real, really, right, roaring, roaringly, seriously, severely, so, sore, sorely, spanking, specially, stinking, such, super, supremely, surpassingly, terribly, that, thumping, too, unco, uncommonly, vastly, very, vitally, way, whacking, wicked, wildly
Antonyms
little, negligibly, nominally, slightly, somewhat
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Examples of desperately in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Visiting investors—whom Ramaphosa is desperately wooing in an attempt to revive the sluggish economy—will struggle to believe his pitch that his country has put the volatile years of his predecessor, Jacob Zuma, behind it. — Ian Bremmer, Time, "What the Xenophobic Violence Gripping South Africa Means for Future of Country," 6 Sep. 2019 O’Brien picks off Hail Mary, saves Hingham in thriller In a back-and-forth game that was tied until the final minute, senior Owen O’Brien saved the Harbormen with a pick-off in the end zone as Braintree desperately hurled a Hail Mary deep. — Jenna Ciccotelli, BostonGlobe.com, "Friday night football updates: First night filled with last-minute heroics," 6 Sep. 2019 Early fame, and the public cruelty that too often accompanies it, can be a desperately brutal experience, as too many child stars have demonstrated. — Emily Dixon, Marie Claire, "Justin Bieber Opened Up About His Heavy Drug Use and Toxic Relationships in Early Fame," 3 Sep. 2019 This particular coaching search pitted two college football bluebloods, LSU and Texas, both desperately craving a return to glory and hunting for the man to get them there. — Ross Dellenger, SI.com, "The Story of Tom Herman, Ed Orgeron and LSU's Wild 2016 Coaching Search," 2 Sep. 2019 But with Parliament suspended for almost five weeks there will be desperately little time. — The Economist, "How Parliament can stop Boris Johnson’s no-deal Brexit," 29 Aug. 2019 The report came on the heels of the disclosure that Deutsche Bank had some of the personal tax records that Trump has sought so desperately to shield from public view. — Eli Rosenberg, Washington Post, "MSNBC host says he was wrong to allege Trump loan had Russian signers. Trump threatened to sue.," 28 Aug. 2019 But the way Bunin has his passengers almost desperately improvise an idealized, inventively detailed possible future for TJ is masterful. — San Diego Union-Tribune, "Review: Funny and moving, La Jolla Playhouse’s ‘The Coast Starlight’ proves a memorable journey," 27 Aug. 2019 Facing a Wednesday deadline, a handful of Democratic White House hopefuls are racing against time — and odds — to qualify, trying desperately to meet the donor targets as well as reaching 2% in four approved public opinion polls. — Brian Slodysko, The Denver Post, "Fuzzy math: Presidential Democratic candidates spend big to draw small-dollar donors," 27 Aug. 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'desperately.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for desperately
desperately
adverb
, -sprət-lē\