| 释义 |
ˈdesperateness
[f. as prec. + -ness.]
The state or quality of being desperate.
†1. The state of being in despair. Obs.
1581G. Pettie Guazzo's Civ. Conv. iii. (1586) 149 They will..be to rough..to their children..[which] driveth them to desperatenesse. a1639W. Whately Prototypes i. iv. (1640) 21 Caine was possessed with a mixture of desperatenesse and murmuring.
2. a. The state or quality of being beyond hope (or of having extremely small chance) of recovery or improvement; hopelessness, irremediableness.
1571Golding Calvin on Ps. xxxvii. 4 When a man refuseth understanding, it is a signe of desperatenesse. a1603T. Cartwright Confut. Rhem. N.T. (1618) 571 You bewray the desperatenesse of your cause. 1659Hammond On Ps. lxxxviii. 4 Paraphr. 435 The deplorablenesse and desperatenesse of my condition. 1876Bancroft Hist. U.S. V. xxi. 575 He awoke to the desperateness of his situation.
b. The state or quality of being beyond hope of attainment or accomplishment.
1667Decay Chr. Piety viii. ⁋5 Hope being equally out⁓dated by the desperateness or unnecessariness of an undertaking. 1677W. Hubbard Narrative 54 The desperateness of the attempt.
3. The rashness or fury of despair; recklessness = desperation 2.
1549Cheke Hurt Sedit. (R.), If for desperatenesse ye care not for yourselues, yet remember your wiues, your children, your countrie. 1600Dekker, etc., Lust's Dominion ii. iv, You are too rash, you are too hot, Wild desperateness doth valour blot. 1639Fuller Holy War ii. xvii. (1840) 72 Loath to anger their enemies' valour into desperateness. 1677Gilpin Demonol. (1867) 448 It is rashness or desperateness, and not true courage. 1963Times 30 May 17/4 The people had the will and desperateness—they held out. |