desperatest

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English[edit]

Adjective[edit]

desperatest

  1. (dated) superlative form of desperate: most desperate
    • 1568, The .Holie. Bible. Conteynyng the Olde Testament and the Newe, London: [] Richarde Iugge, folio xliij, recto:
      God neuer fayleth his people, whō he aydeth beyonde the compaſſe of mans reaſon, euen in their deſperateſt caſe.
    • 1579, Plutarke of Chæronea [i.e., Plutarch], “The Life of Phocion”, in Thomas North, transl., The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romaines, [], London: [] Richard Field, →OCLC, page 799:
      For Chabrias otherwiſe beeing very dull and ſlothfull of him ſelfe, when he came to fight, he was ſo hotte and corageous, that he would thruſt himſelfe into daunger, with the deſperateſt perſons: []
    • 1582, [Robert Persons], An Epistle of the Persecution of Catholickes in Englande, [] Douay in Artois [i.e., Rouen: Fr. Parsons’ Press], pages 84–85:
      Ys this (think yowe) a verye iuſt cauſe of torture? ys this a reaſõ effectuall enoughe to bringe men to theire inquiſition? ſpeciallye ſo extreme, ſo rigorouſe, ſo ſeruile a maner of inquiſitiõ for free born mē to endure? dyd Catholiques in any aige practiſe this, euen againſt the deſperateſt and peruerſeſt heretiques?
    • 2016, Aaron Starmer, Spontaneous, Dutton Books, page 133:
      [] But these are desperate times.” “The desperatest,” I said.