4SERIOUS SITUATIONa desperate action is something that you only do because you are in a very bad situation 〔行动〕孤注一掷的
desperate attempt/bid/effort
a desperate attempt to escape
孤注一掷企图逃跑
We resorted to desperate measures.
我们采取了破釜沉舟的做法。
desperate battle/struggle/fight
a desperate struggle to rescue the men
不惜一切营救那些人的努力
nCOLLOCATIONS – Meaning 4: a desperate action is something that you only do because you are in a very bad situation
nouns
a desperate attempt
Brian’s parents agreed to the treatment in a desperate attempt to save his life.
a desperate bid (=attempt)
He was standing in the middle of the road in a desperate bid to get help.
a desperate effort
A desperate effort was made to reach an agreement.
a desperate struggle/battle/fight
The climbers faced a desperate struggle to reach safety.
desperate measures (=extreme things you do to stop a problem or bad situation)
They had to take desperate measures to stop the spread of the disease.
a desperate search
The female bear has left her young in a desperate search for food.
Examples from the Corpus
desperate• Another two weeks without emergencyaid and I'd think things could become quite desperate.• We have members of our association who are desperate and worriedsick as to how they are going to survive.• I was inspired by her optimism in the face of such desperate conditions.• Had he not been she might have telephoned him instead of Nick, when she had been desperate for company.• Pushing himself up, he staggered on, feeling angry and desperateinside.• The hospital is full of people in desperate need of medicalattention.• TVstationsbroadcast an appeal from the teenager's desperate parents.• There was a desperateshortage of doctors.• Refugees on the border are living in appalling conditions with desperate shortages of food, medicine and water.• In desperate situations of life or death people come up with unheard-of wisdom.• The situation was desperate. The enemy were now only a mile away.• The situation is desperate -- there are just not enough beds in the hospital.• Musicians were so desperate to hear Michelangeli that they borrowedviolin cases and sneaked in through the stage door.• Punters get desperate when the firm they are dealing with is about to go bust.
getting desperate• Harvard's dealing director started getting desperate.• Paul says he was getting desperate.• We'd had a couple just stay on the lip and we were getting desperate.• They're getting desperate about the cabaret.• High Street shops are getting desperate after two years of poorsales.• I think they're getting desperate and Berlin seems the likeliest cause.• Miguel was getting desperatethoughts about it, convinced he had been hasty.• Televisionmanufacturers are getting desperate to attractcustomers.
desperate shortage• While toy sales here have hit a record high they face a desperate shortage of clean water.• Again the desperate shortage of materials and the home-made nature of the goods was evident.• Surely Londonemployers were suffering from a desperate shortage of school-leavers?