I collated those definitions from a couple websites and they all closed in on the same terms, which is also what I had come to understand over the years. But it

I collated those definitions from a couple websites and they all closed in on the same terms, which is also what I had come to understand over the years. But it's possibly a case of definitions and usage shifting a bit, or maybe a cultural element (defined in British English vs American perhaps?). But I got the closer meaning by looking up "despair" rather than desperation, so it was one hop away :)