Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Desperation

Desperation , noun

[Latin desperatio: compare Old French desperation.]

1.
The act of despairing or becoming desperate; a giving up of hope.
This desperation of success chills all our industry. — Hammond
2.
A state of despair, or utter hopeless; abandonment of hope; extreme recklessness; reckless fury.
In the desperation of the moment, the officers even tried to cut their way through with their swords. — W. Irving