adverb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
desperately poor (= so poor that it causes great suffering )
▪
Half the population remains desperately poor.
desperately unlucky
▪
Thierry Henry was desperately unlucky not to score when his shot hit the post.
desperately worried (= extremely worried )
▪
All this time I was desperately worried about my family.
desperately
▪
They ran in all directions, desperately seeking escape.
desperately
▪
He desperately wants his mum and dad to get back together.
desperately
▪
They try desperately to please other people.
desperately/terribly/dreadfully unhappy
▪
It was the first time she had been away from home and she was desperately unhappy.
need sth desperately/badly/urgently
▪
More blood donors are urgently needed.
search frantically/desperately (= in a hurried way, because you feel very worried )
▪
Panic-stricken parents frantically searched for their children.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
close
▪
His do-or-die bid failed when Optiebeurs Felix refused after a desperately close turn into the second fence.
▪
But it will be desperately close as two exceptionally committed sides bid to keep their championship season alive.
▪
Shearer was desperately close to a goal and then Mitchell bounced a shot off the bar.
▪
The story came desperately close to beginning with a victory.
▪
That was a desperately close-run thing and it may have taken its toll.
hard
▪
One looked at the team and found it desperately hard to agree.
▪
She tried desperately hard to be all things to everyone, and ultimately it killed her.
▪
He was trying desperately hard to make amends, she thought.
▪
Accommodation is, however, desperately hard to find.
ill
▪
John: In 1985, John had to give up his career as a consulting engineer because he was desperately ill .
▪
It is only when she falls desperately ill that he recognises how much he loves her.
▪
Now 35 other desperately ill people will get Temozolomide because the extra cash is being used to make more of the drug.
▪
A woman had been admitted with acute pancreatitis, desperately ill .
▪
However, in the winter of 1659 she became desperately ill and on the point of death.
▪
Two-year-old John Storey was desperately ill in hospital with internal injuries and skin burns.
▪
New visa requirements mean 206 people, including a desperately ill girl, won't be allowed in.
important
▪
It is desperately important to have an outside interest if you're in politics.
▪
Choice of company is desperately important .
▪
It suddenly seemed desperately important to meet the woman behind that haunting voice.
lonely
▪
It was a desperately lonely time.
▪
Back-country life in the cabins was desperately lonely , harsh, and violent.
poor
▪
The unease is not restricted to the desperately poor , swampy country of 10m people.
▪
But the Valley remained desperately poor , with little possibility of economic expansion or improvement.
▪
Far from being desperately poor peasants, the squatters were clearly city dwellers.
▪
Children, the elderly, the desperately poor .
▪
The prices are still too high to allow more than a small number of people in desperately poor countries to be treated.
▪
It was that bust-up which ruined team morale this season and contributed to Lancashire's desperately poor season.
▪
He remained desperately poor and obstinately proud.
▪
Saint Antoine, south-eastern suburb of Paris, a desperately poor area in the eighteenth century, with many starving unemployed.
short
▪
Never desperately short of money, he was lucky in attracting funds and spent his money generously.
▪
Pyongyang claims that a year of floods and other natural disasters have left the country desperately short of rice.
▪
The cities are desperately short of food.
▪
He asked my permission to use new rope because we were desperately short of traditional rope.
▪
In addition the economy was no longer so desperately short of workers.
▪
No buyer for the Nauvoo temple ever emerged, and their funds ran desperately short .
▪
The mainframe will soon be history, the AS/400 is still worth saving, but time is desperately short .
▪
Victim Support helps thousands of people every year, but the service is running desperately short of money.
sorry
▪
He had told her enough about his parents' passionate devotion to each other for Julia to feel desperately sorry for her.
▪
He was just so desperately sorry she was upset.
▪
My father was always desperately sorry for these jobless, penniless people, especially those who were ex-service men like himself.
trying
▪
Retching, vomiting and desperately trying to rub its face clean, the animal learns a lesson it never forgets.
▪
I was desperately trying to keep control but felt horribly threatened.
▪
So there he was, in a merchant bank, desperately trying to restore the family fortunes.
▪
Most of the third-year students had been back for a month already, desperately trying to catch up with their second-year work.
▪
Angel was now desperately trying to make his way as a professional polo player.
unhappy
▪
I was desperately unhappy , almost suicidal.
▪
No hopeless lover of a living maiden was ever so desperately unhappy as Pygmallon.
▪
Although in other poems Leapor shows that labouring class women can be desperately unhappy in marriage, she is not unequivocal.
▪
He said she was desperately unhappy .
▪
She sounds desperately unhappy , poor thing, and perhaps she should talk to a psychiatrist.
▪
The fact was that Sir Herbert was a desperately unhappy man.
▪
All of that I could understand, but it concerned me that she was so nervous and desperately unhappy .
▪
Their relationship had become conflict-ridden to the point where each of them was desperately unhappy .
unlucky
▪
Barnes was desperately unlucky after a magnificent one-two with McManaman to see his volley come back off the foot of the post.
worried
▪
Your parents are desperately worried , and no wonder.
▪
Derek returned home a desperately worried person.
▪
All this time I was desperately worried about my family.
▪
The lawyer was desperately worried about his friend Doctor Jekyll.
▪
She felt insecure, unsure of the future and desperately worried about Steve and Maria Luisa.
▪
Citizens in inner-city areas are desperately worried and rightly so, about street crime.
▪
Male speaker I am desperately worried that the aid won't get tothe people it's meant for.
■ VERB
cling
▪
She was clinging desperately to the hang-glider.
▪
These few will desperately cling to traditional structures and culture.
▪
She was clinging desperately to normality and self-respect.
▪
She drew him close, clinging desperately .
▪
The stairs have become rope ladders, with managers clinging desperately for balance.
▪
The faith that something would and must be done to save the city was desperately clung to....
▪
On the other were tenants clinging desperately to the last vestige of their community.
▪
As I rode a high wave I saw a small boy desperately clinging to a piece of board.
feel
▪
He had told her enough about his parents' passionate devotion to each other for Julia to feel desperately sorry for her.
▪
Only she is feeling desperately homesick.
▪
I felt desperately fatigued, but also exhilarated.
▪
Freeing a hand, George felt desperately in his pockets.
▪
All at once, she felt desperately tired.
▪
She felt desperately tired but couldn't yawn.
▪
Although Luke translated the whole time for her, she felt desperately isolated and sick with longing for Ricky.
▪
Sometimes he felt desperately shy and this specially seemed to happen when titled laymen or captains of industry appeared.
fight
▪
Hair and clothing saturated, she fought desperately to keep control.
hope
▪
She didn't like him, but hoped desperately that he would win.
▪
Again and again Cheryl signalled the message, hoping desperately that Angela would read it.
▪
As the fiery blush mounted her cheeks, she shook his hand briefly, desperately hoping for a miracle.
▪
Old age doesn't seem to have much to offer, yet I desperately hope to attain it.
▪
He could feel his heart thudding furiously and hoped desperately that he'd succeeded in making his voice sound casual.
▪
Ministry of Agriculture vets were last night desperately hoping germs would not spread to those animals.
▪
I religiously told Jim about each of Neil's presents, desperately hoping to provoke some sort of response.
▪
Francis, rapidly running out of striking options, is still desperately hoping Watson can play a part.
look
▪
She looked desperately around for Gabriel.
▪
One's heart bled for Cowdrey, for he looked desperately nervous and soon succumbed without scoring.
▪
He was sickened by sifting through hundreds of case notes on crimes against children, desperately looking for clues.
▪
Following them, Mr Kinnock looks desperately vulnerable.
▪
He looked desperately up and down the road for a woman who fitted her description.
▪
Panting, Ruth looked desperately round at the great host of Women.
▪
He looked desperately around but could see no sign of his attacker.
▪
The Duchess was desperately looking for help.
need
▪
In this country we have a process that desperately needs changing.
▪
That 5 % of his may not last, but it is 5 % that Gore desperately needs to hold on to.
▪
We desperately need to develop new situational value systems, otherwise we are tied to lumbering dogma or immediate gain or defensiveness.
▪
His hard, tough, unsentimental mind gave to the weak young republic the guidance it desperately needed .
▪
Secondly, we desperately need a comprehensive structure of opportunity and provision for the 16-19 age groups.
▪
This team desperately needed a showman, and it got one when it persuaded Barkley to re-enlist.
▪
And they all desperately need a strategy for coping.
▪
Grandfather learned that night how Yi desperately needed helpers to raise funds for the resistance.
search
▪
Joyce raced through the store, searching desperately .
▪
Doubled up he drew his knife, eyes behind the vizor desperately searching the inky blackness.
▪
Hencke's eyes searched desperately around the room, for a way out, a means of escape.
▪
Crouched on the floor Leonore searched desperately for Lais's pulse, tears streaming down her face, blinding her.
▪
These poor chaps were searching desperately for a project which would not be cursed with the ephemeral vulgarity of their usual tasks.
seek
▪
Now the Conservative Party, the markets and the country at large all desperately seek reassurance.
▪
The Timberwolves are desperately seeking backcourt help, mainly at point guard.
▪
As it drew nearer to Corrie's fifth birthday she began desperately seeking a way in which to keep her in Chertsey.
▪
We both were desperately seeking boyfriends.
▪
Organisers of the 12-year-old event are now desperately seeking an alternative venue to keep the increasingly popular festival alive.
▪
The small fish broke into smaller shoals, desperately seeking escape.
struggle
▪
It starts with the observation that Major is struggling desperately to gain stature and authority.
▪
Still, it was painful, and he struggled desperately to swallow his pride.
▪
She had never seen men like this in her life and she struggled desperately to pull out of their reach.
▪
Why did he feel as though he had just run his sword through the heart of something small and desperately struggling for survival?
▪
Mavis fell and struggled desperately to regain her feet.
▪
You don't look to me like some one desperately struggling to nurse a company-patient back to life.
think
▪
This just won't do, the Dean thought desperately .
▪
I thought desperately about fighting but could not figure it out.
▪
It was a mirror, he thought desperately: he was dreaming of a mirror.
▪
Being with young children, Molly thought desperately , is like having to take out a geriatric, or a drunk.
▪
It can't really be alive, she thought desperately .
▪
But I've no choice, Ruth thought desperately .
▪
At this rate, she thought desperately , the lunch hour will be over before I even get there.
▪
Am I plain fickle, she thought desperately .
try
▪
Everybody tries desperately to have a good time, but it never really happens.
▪
The cops in the bar were trying desperately to pass as barflies.
▪
The Lieutenant was desperately trying to stay in his saddle.
▪
The day before he died he tried desperately to communicate something to me.
▪
He is unfailingly polite and tries desperately to understand other people's views.
▪
A mother may try desperately to calm her angry crying seven-month-old with hugs and offers of juice and toys.
▪
Now Labour's support is falling, and the government is trying desperately to placate its business enemies.
▪
About eight months later she desperately tried to get him back in.
want
▪
The Giants were leading the series 3-1 and wanted desperately to avoid returning to Wrigley Field for a sixth game.
▪
The political situation made her work increasingly dangerous, and some part of me desperately wanted to urge her to quit.
▪
She wanted desperately to make him understand that she wasn't the kind of girl Giles had labelled her.
▪
We think she desperately wants to be friends with you.
▪
And he desperately wants to overtake Hadlee before Border establishes a new record for Test runs.
▪
Something in me desperately wanted my mother to acquiesce when my father said that.
▪
Elaine desperately wants to be free: free to fall in love, work hard and have fun.
▪
She desperately wanted his last article published.
wish
▪
They were both gazing out of the window like homesick boys, as if desperately wishing to be elsewhere.
▪
She wished desperately that he would come home.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪
Lori wanted desperately to have a child.
▪
We're desperately trying to avoid laying off people.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪
Back-country life in the cabins was desperately lonely, harsh, and violent.
▪
But before that happens, she desperately wants a decent game.
▪
Following them, Mr Kinnock looks desperately vulnerable.
▪
Retching, vomiting and desperately trying to rub its face clean, the animal learns a lesson it never forgets.
▪
Robyn put the bottle to her lips again - defiantly, desperately .
▪
She needed desperately to be alone for a little while - to think.