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DESPERATE STRAITS
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Dictionary entry overview: What does desperate straits mean?
• DESPERATE STRAITS (noun)
The noun DESPERATE STRAITS has 1 sense:
1. a state of extreme distress
Familiarity information: DESPERATE STRAITS used as a noun is very rare.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
A state of extreme distress
Classified under:
Nouns denoting stable states of affairs
Synonyms:
desperate straits; dire straits
Hypernyms ("desperate straits" is a kind of...):
pass; strait; straits (a bad or difficult situation or state of affairs)
Context examples
I am, I know, either being deceived, like a baby, by my own fears, or else I am in desperate straits; and if the latter be so, I need, and shall need, all my brains to get through.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
| Learn English with... Proverbs |
"Desperate diseases must have desperate cures." (English proverb)
"When the poor man is burried, the large bell of the parish is silent" (Breton proverb)
"Meat and mass never hindered man." (Arabic proverb)
"Hang a thief when he's young, and he'll no' steal when he's old." (Scottish proverb)
"When the poor man is burried, the large bell of the parish is silent" (Breton proverb)
"Meat and mass never hindered man." (Arabic proverb)
"Hang a thief when he's young, and he'll no' steal when he's old." (Scottish proverb)