A dangerous criminal or outlaw, especially one who takes wild risks because they have nothing to lose.
From Spanish 'desesperado,' meaning 'desperate person,' derived from Latin 'desperatus' (without hope). The word entered English in the 1600s through contact with Spanish-speaking regions.
The word literally means someone so desperate they've given up hope—outlaws in the Old West earned this name because desperation was what made them dangerous, not just skill with a gun.
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