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Desperate vs Headlong - What's the difference?

desperate | headlong | Synonyms |

Desperate is a synonym of headlong.


As adjectives the difference between desperate and headlong

is that desperate is being filled with, or in a state of despair; hopeless while headlong is precipitous.

As an adverb headlong is

with the head first or down.

As a verb headlong is

to precipitate.

desperate

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Being filled with, or in a state of despair; hopeless.
  • * (William Shakespeare)
    • Since his exile she hath despised me most, / Forsworn my company and rail'd at me, / That I am desperate of obtaining her.
  • * , chapter=16
    • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=“[…] She takes the whole thing with desperate seriousness. But the others are all easy and jovial—thinking about the good fare that is soon to be eaten, about the hired fly, about anything.”}}
  • Without regard to danger or safety; reckless; furious.
  • * Macaulay
    • desperate expedients
  • Beyond hope; causing despair; extremely perilous; irretrievable.
  • Extreme, in a bad sense; outrageous.
  • * (William Shakespeare)
    • a desperate offendress against nature
  • * Macaulay
    • the most desperate of reprobates
  • Extremely intense.

    • Derived terms

    * desperation

    Related terms

    * despair * desperado

    Anagrams

    * ----

    headlong

    English

    Adverb

    (-)
  • With the head first or down.
  • With an unrestrained forward motion.
    • Figures out today show the economy plunging headlong into recession.
  • Rashly; precipitately; without deliberation.

    • Antonyms

    * (l) (UK dialect)

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Precipitous.
  • Plunging downwards head foremost.
  • Rushing forward without restraint.
  • (figuratively) Reckless, impetuous.
  • * 1869 , RD Blackmoore, Lorna Doone , II:
    • “Time is up,” cried another boy, more headlong than head-monitor.

    Derived terms

    * headlongness * headlongs

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To precipitate.
  • * 1862 , Thomas Adams, The works of Thomas Adams :
    • If a stranger be setting his pace and face toward some deep pit, or steep rock — such a precipice as the cliffs of Dover — how do we cry aloud to have him return ? yet in mean time forget the course of our own sinful ignorance, that headlongs us to confusion.
  • * 1905 , Liberty Hyde Bailey, The outlook to nature :
    • Carriages went up and down in endless pageant. Trolley-cars rushed by, clanging and grinding as they headlonged into the side streets.