Dictionary

desperado en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /dɛspəˈɹɑːdəʊ/ (UK)
• (US) audio

Etymology

From obsolete Spanish desperado, past participle of desperar, archaic form of desesperar (“to despair”), from Latin disperare (“to despair, to lose hope”), from prefix dis- + sperare (“to hope”). Doublet of desperate.

Meanings

1. A bold outlaw, especially one from southern portions of the Wild West.
   • The kind of persons who excite or give signal to such revolutions — students, young men of letters […], or fierce and justly bankrupt desperadoes, acting everywhere on the discontent of the millions and blowing it into flame, — might give rise to reflections as to the character of our epoch. 1850, Thomas Carlyle, “The present time”, in Latter-Day Pamphlets:
   • Surely this was the face of a desperado. 1918, Willa Cather, My Antonia, paperback edition, Mirado Modern Classics, page 6:
2. (colloquial) A person in desperate circumstances or who is at the point of desperation, such as a down-and-outer, an addict, etc.
   • The shortstops and desperados were not permitted to play in this marker crap game. 1981, Sam Grafstein, Dice Doctor:
3. (colloquial) A person who is desperately in love or is desperate for a romantic or sexual relationship.
4. A piece that seems determined to give itself up, typically to bring about stalemate or perpetual check.

Forms

Deriveds

desperadoism

Translations (7)

da desperado (bold outlaw) · es desperado (bold outlaw) · fr desperado (bold outlaw) · sv desperado (bold outlaw) · bg разбойник (bold outlaw) · mk ра́збојник (bold outlaw) · fi desperado (bold outlaw)