Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A bold or desperate outlaw, especially of the American frontier.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A desperate or reckless man; one urged by furious passions; one habituated to lawless deeds either for himself or for others.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A reckless, furious man; a person urged by furious passions, and regardless of consequence; a wild ruffian.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a bold outlaw (especially on the American frontier)
Etymologies
- From Spanish desesperado, past participle of desesperar ("to despair"), from Latin disperare ("to despair, to lose hope"), from prefix dis- + sperare ("to hope"). (Wiktionary)
- Probably from Spanish desperado, desesperado, desperate person, from past participle of desesperar, to despair, from Latin dēspērāre; see despair. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“You have information as to the arrival of a man known as a desperado with a grudge against the two dead men, yet you know of no steps to take.”
“On the other hand, his evil repute has been wildly exaggerated by careless journalists and their local informants, who seek to embellish their limited acquaintance with a "desperado"; with the result that the real man has been virtually entombed by tale and legend which since his death has petrified as myth.”
“If LTC Shaffer such a "desperado," why did he get a security clearance in the first place and why did it keep getting renewed?”
“beseeches" the brigand for "his son Onesimus," telling him that now he receives him "forever," and then calls the desperado "our dearly beloved fellow-laborer"!”
The Sable Cloud A Southern Tale With Northern Comments (1861)
“About this period a "desperado" of world-wide fame named Harry Tracy was raising a siege of terror in the State of Oregon, having committed over a dozen murders, and successfully baffled the police.”
“Lately a child in the other cabin was taken ill, and though there were idle men and horses at hand, it was only the "desperado" who rode sixty miles in "the shortest time ever made" to bring the doctor.”
“The title of "desperado," "Negro murderer," is very easily obtained in the South.”
“Little danger but the Edition will sell; Fraser knows his own Trade well enough, and is as much a "desperado" as poor Attila”
The Correspondence of Thomas Carlyle and Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1834-1872, Vol. I
“IFP deputy chairman Lionel Mtshali on Monday said: "It astonishes us that the ANC leadership in KwaZulu-Natal can allow the premier of this province to be described as a desperado and as”
“If LTC Shaffer such a "desperado," why did he get a security clearance in the first place and why did it keep getting renewed?”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘desperado’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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Words that are also movies
Unabashedly stolen from a comment made by courier12.
vertigo, serendipity, casablanca, psycho, jaws, fantasia, stagecoach, network, rocky, giant, platoon, unforgiven and 285 more...
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Dirty Deeds, Acts & Villainous Arcana
Villains, evildoers, and the wonderful words to describe them.
putsch, internecine, galère, stygian, infernal, opprobrium, anathema, bruit, scurrility, mulct, misanthropic, invective and 102 more...
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Perponyms
List of words referent to persons who commit specific crimes, or are suspected of committing those crimes, beginning with arsonist and safecracker.
Check out reesetee's nice Bad Guys l...arsonist, safecracker, murderer, rapist, getaway man, jewel thief, accomplice, drug dealer, carjacker, gunrunner, industrial spy, human trafficker and 216 more...
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Unsavory characters
absconder, aretaloger, arriviste, avaunter, bamboozler, bandit, banger, barbarian, barmecide, barrator, beldam, blatherskite and 190 more...
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scoundrels and bastards
already several of these lists, but I wanted my own
varlet, scoundrel, slubberdegullion, bastard, hooligan, boor, churl, thug, cad, ne'er-do-well, miscreant, minx and 85 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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the brothers
factotem, extrapolation, antinomy, antenome, pusillanimous, capons, caftan, pejorative, cropper, cowl, perfidious, fichu and 138 more...
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♥
ambrosia, inamorata, gossamer, lily-white, hummingbird, roucoulement, poppy, daisy, calypso, lunula, lamb, dove and 1526 more...
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ecbrenner's list
flatline, luddism, apocalipstick, muttsucker, leviathan of fore..., flint, coryphaeus, donnybrook, bandwidth, bagpipe the mizen, cheesed off, asterism and 525 more...
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Unsavoury Types
insults, epithets, etc.
drotchel, drossel, drazel, flutch, lollard, scobberlotcher, ragabash, faineant, cad, buffoon, martinet, tosspot and 116 more...
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Foxtrot's list
afternoon delight, almost unreal, full of spark, dazzle n daze, alarming stride, rushing tide, double dagger, in the nude, constant pressure, widow maker, bourbon on the rocks, air fare holme and 311 more...
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Clearinghouse
For stuff to simply reside.
calcar, pinion, espadrille, antipodes, peregrine, cormorant, tanager, vireo, farrago, undervest, passerine, oscine and 881 more...
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ash
ash
abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abide, abject, abjure and 4874 more...
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Thunderfoot's Words
lugubrious, salacious, vituperative, foist, foment, embolism, stygian, mellifluous, bildungsroman, shirk, crone, elide and 173 more...
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Stop that you (______)
Names that nobody loves to be called, much to my chagrin.
hooligan, hoodlum, scoundrel, renegade, outlaw, yahoo, dog, rebel, traitor, villain, beast, brute and 11 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for desperado.
bilby Bold indeed, WordNet's got it this time. Sep 5, 2008