Meaning

noun a person who is frightened and in need of help

adjective arising from or marked by despair or loss of hope

adjective desperately determined

originFrom Middle English desperat(e) (“desperate”), borrowed from Latin dēspērātus, perfect passive participle of dēspērō (“to be without hope”), see -ate (adjective-forming suffix). The noun is derived from the adjective or from the Latin source through substantivization, see -ate (noun-forming suffix).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0