desperation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English desperacioun, also disperacioun,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French desperation, also desperacion,^[4][3][5] or directly borrowed from Latin dēspērātiō (“despair, hopelessness”),^[4][3][6] a noun of action from the past participle stem of dēspērō (“to despair, lose all hope”),^[3][5] from dē- (“without”) and spērō (“to hope”), from spēs (“hope”).^[3] Etymonline traces the Latin noun to Proto-Indo-European *spes- (“prosperity”), the root of speed.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The act of despairing, or the state of having lost all hope, especially of God's mercy: about 1366, in Chaucer's A.B.C.,^[4][3] a sense the OED now calls rare.^[4] Chaucer used the word twice.^[7]

Semantic evolution

From the early 15th century the word also meant a desperate state of mind.^[3] From 1531, in Elyot's Boke Named the Gouernour, despair that leads to recklessness, or recklessness born of despair; this is now the main sense.^[4][5] Johnson (1755) still defined it as "hopelesness; despair; despondency".^[8] In Scotland and Ireland desperation could mean a great rage ("The master was in desperation"), and like desperation meant as if in despair.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1366 – despair, loss of all hope (now rare).^[4]
• late 14th century – hopelessness, especially of God's mercy, as desperacioun.^[3]
• c. 1400 – a desperate state of mind.^[3]
• 1531 – despair leading to recklessness.^[4]
• 1755 – Johnson defines it as hopelessness and despondency.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A state of despair in which one is ready to take reckless or extreme action: In desperation, the climbers cut the rope.^[10][11][4]
2. The state of having lost all hope; hopelessness.^[10][11][4]
3. A strong sense of urgency: the desperation of their need for water.^[11]

Related words

• despair
• desperate
• desperado
• prosper

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
8. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
9. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
10. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster