Collocations for desperate - adj.

be, feel, look, seem, sound
become, get
I was starting to get desperate.

make sb
The sudden loss of his money had made him desperate.

extremely, fairly, very, etc.
really, truly
absolutely, utterly
She felt utterly desperate.

increasingly
almost
a little, slightly, etc.

about
I felt desperate about my future.

Desperate is used with these nouns:
appeal, attempt, bid, circumstance, craving, cry, desire, effort, fight, gamble, hope, loneliness, longing, look, lunge, measure, move, need, plea, plight, remedy, scramble, search, shortage, situation, state, strait, struggle, tiredness, trouble, urge, urgency, wish, yearning