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Meanings of desperate straits in English

A state of extreme distress.

Usage of desperate straits in English
1
The economy is not in desperate straits yet, but confidence appears shaken.
Reuters
2
The next few years therefore found the colony again in desperate straits.
Crusaders of New France / A Chronicle of the Fleur-de-Lis in the...
3
Never in her humble life had Nakpa been in more desperate straits.
Old Indian Days
4
Thus in desperate straits Toby Vanderwiller had accepted help from Gedney Raffer.
Nan Sherwood at Pine Camp; Or, The Old Lumberman's Secret
5
She knew that Winifred Waverly had never been in such desperate straits.
Six Feet Four
6
Being driven to desperate straits, the priest tried a rather doubtful shift.
The Winning of the West, Volume 2 / From the Alleghanies to the ...
7
But as his company was in desperate straits he could not quibble.
The new yorker
8
Even despite the oil problem, our armies are in desperate straits.
Red inferno: 1945
9
He had got into the habit of seeing himself always in desperate straits.
O Pioneers!
10
She had learned the wisdom which the passage through desperate straits can bring.
Clara Hopgood
11
There is a family here who are in awfully desperate straits.
Daddy-Long-Legs
12
He was in too desperate straits to rebel at that time.
The Ramrodders: A Novel
13
I couldn't make the novel work, and we were living in desperate straits.
The Guardian
14
They did not lack for purpose and Liverpool were sometimes in desperate straits.
The Irish Times
15
They are in desperate straits, but they will enter the Twickenham arena swinging.
The Guardian
16
Soldiers when in desperate straits lose the sense of fear.
The Art of War
This collocation consists of:
Desperate straits through the time
Desperate straits across language varieties
United Kingdom
Common
United States of America
Common