desperate straits

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

"I just feel that if somebody is really in desperate straits, I'm willing to give somebody a bed," she explains.

From BBC • Dec. 24, 2025

And now, they are happy to see him finally walking back through it, returning to health — and, they hope, form — at a time when their bullpen’s depth was in dire, desperate straits.

From Los Angeles Times • May 10, 2024

Once that lifeline was withdrawn, five million children fell back into poverty almost overnight and the percentage of kids in desperate straits shot up to 12.4 percent.

From Salon • Mar. 26, 2024

More needs to be done to fashion a secure safety net, especially in providing child care, psychological and medical support, as well as jobs for refugees in desperate straits.

From Washington Post • Feb. 5, 2023

The rural economy of the United States had already been in desperate straits for some time by that fall.

From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown