2015-09-22

prettygoodword: text: words are sexy (words are sexy)
2015-09-22 07:46 am

sperate

sperate (SPER-ait) - adj., hoped for; to be hoped for.


A rare general sense, and a slightly less rare legal sense -- a sperate debt is one likely to be recovered (while a desperate debt is unlikely to be recouped). The negative form of desperate is, of course, more common. Adopted around 1550 from Latin speratus, past participle of sperare, to hope.

---L.