desperare

Desperāre is a Latin verb meaning to despair or to lose hope. It is formed from de- (down, completely) and sperāre (to hope), conveying the sense of losing all hope. The word belongs to the first conjugation and has the standard principal parts: desperō, desperāre, desperāvī, desperātus. In the present active indicative, the forms are desperō, desperās, desperat, desperāmus, desperātis, desperant.

In usage, desperāre describes the act of losing hope regarding a person, situation, or outcome. Classical authors employ it to express emotional state or rhetorical emphasis, and it can appear with infinitival clauses or complement clauses that specify what is hoped for or feared. The verb also occurs in poetry and prose to convey intense emotional or moral moments, including metaphorical applications to political or personal ruin.

The related noun desperātiō denotes despair, while the adjective desperātus means desperate or hopeless. The semantic field is closely linked to spes (hope), often contrasted in Latin as the opposite concept. Desperāre thus functions both as a straightforward verb describing a psychological state and as a stylistic device in literary and rhetorical contexts.

See also: spes, hope; desperātiō, despair; desperātus, desperate. Desperāre appears mainly in classical and late Latin texts, where it contributes to nuanced expressions of emotion and fate.