desperate

desperate diseases must have desperate remedies

proverb Extreme and undesirable circumstances or situations can only be resolved by resorting to equally extreme actions. I know that the austerity measures introduced by the government during the recession are unpopular, but desperate diseases must have desperate remedies.
See also: desperate, disease, have, must, remedy

desperate measures

Extreme and undesirable actions taken as a solution to a problem that cannot be resolved by ordinary means. With his job gone and debt mounting, John was forced to take desperate measures to keep his home.
See also: desperate, measure

desperate times call for desperate measures

proverb Extreme and undesirable circumstances or situations can only be resolved by resorting to equally extreme actions. Derived from the proverb, "Desperate diseases must have desperate remedies." I know that the austerity measures introduced by the government during the recession are unpopular, but desperate times call for desperate measures.
See also: call, desperate, measure, times

desperate times require desperate measures

proverb Extreme and undesirable circumstances or situations can only be resolved by resorting to equally extreme actions. Derived from the proverb, "Desperate diseases must have desperate remedies." I know that the austerity measures introduced by the government during the recession are unpopular, but desperate times require desperate measures.
See also: desperate, measure, require, times
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

Desperate diseases must have desperate remedies.

Prov. If you have a seemingly insurmountable problem, you must do things you ordinarily would not do in order to solve it. Fred: All my employees have been surly and morose for months. How can I improve their morale? Alan: Why not give everyone a raise? Fred: That's a pretty extreme suggestion. Alan: Yes, but desperate diseases must have desperate remedies.
See also: desperate, disease, have, must, remedy
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

desperate straits

A very difficult situation. The noun “strait,” usually in the plural (straits), has been used since the 1600s to mean a dilemma of some kind. One of the earliest pairings with “desperate” was in Harriet Martineau’s The History of England during the Thirty Years’ Peace (1849): “Never were Whig rulers reduced to more desperate straits.” Today the term is used both seriously and ironically, as in “We’re in desperate straits today—the newspaper never arrived.”
See also: desperate, strait
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • desperate diseases must have desperate remedies
  • remedy
  • require
  • desperate times call for desperate measures
  • desperate times require desperate measures
  • drastic
  • drastic times call for drastic measures
  • drastic times require drastic measures
  • follow the golden mean
  • road rage
References in periodicals archive
"That's when I saw it and thought, 'blow me, there's Desperate Dan'."
I can't believe my cow pies; DRIVERS STUNNED BY DESPERATE DAN RUINS
According to a copy of the report seen by the Sunday Mirror, Somalian refugees - one of the largest groups of illegal immigrants into Britain - top the list for taking the desperate measure.
MIGRANTS CHOP OFF FINGERTIPS
As Desperate Housewives continues on Channel 4, the arts venue in Cardiff is offering free tickets to see Marti Pellow as devilish Darryl VanHorne in the show.
The hunt is on to find the nation's most desperate housewife
Entrants should explain in 150 words or less why they are Britain's most desperate housewife by email press.office@wmc.org.uk.
Desperate housewives sought
Gaby was desperate to remarry her ex-hubby Carlos, but was a little peeved that he had been a bit economical with the truth when it came to his "temporary" blindness.
It's hysteria on Wisteria Lane; Mc TV
By now I was getting desperate and so upset, not knowing how much longer I could hold on, but I had to, and I was in considerable pain and distress.
LETTER: A place to go when you're shopping
The Desperate Men's Miracle Show brings to life a tale of travelling outsiders searching for a better life.
Snap to it for a cash boost
In fact, "Desperate Housewives" bowed with almost 5 million viewers to make it the web's most-popular drama to launch since "ER" made its debut on C4 11 years ago.
Yanks' 'Wives' tempting Brits
It's one of three Desperate and Dateless events taking place in the UK on the same night, with identical nights in Leeds and London matching a total of 2,500 blind dates.
DESPERATE AND DATELESS?; Join the biggest blind date party
But then the second desperate person emerged on the scene.
You talkin' to me?
They are getting desperate to save their race and desperate people do desperate things."
SOS from randy aliens... Send Out Sex!
Salle's premise, it must be explained, contains a grain of autoreferentiality: it concerns a man desperate to make a movie, and so to fulfill his "vision." The film opens with small-time entertainment promoter Martin Mirkheim (Griffin Dunne) - the name itself seems to hiss "loser" - sitting with his beleaguered wife (Rosanna Arquette) in the office of a government bureaucrat who has just informed him he owes the state of Florida $147,956 in taxes.
Search and Destroy
The Drug Crisis really is a crisis--not of desperate drug taking but of desperate drug buying and lucrative drug selling.
Guns, drugs, and rock 'n' roll: weeding out the root causes of violence
In the desperate fighting around the Pusan Perimeter in 1950, U.S.
One bugle, no drums: the marines at Chosin Reservoir
'He is just a desperate rumormonger who happens to be a senator.'
Mans Carpio accuses Trillanes of rumormongering