| 死命 | sǐ mìng | doom / death / desperately |   |
| 没命 | méi mìng | to lose one's life / to die / recklessly / desperately | |
| 要死要活 | yào sǐ yào huó | terribly / awfully / desperately | |
| 不得了 | bù dé liǎo | desperately serious / disastrous / extremely / exceedingly | |
| 拼抢 | pīn qiǎng | to fight desperately (at the risk of one's life) | |
| 拼死拼活 | pīn sǐ pīn huó | one's utmost / (to fight or work) desperately hard / to put up a life or death struggle / at all costs | |
| 燃眉 | rán méi | to burn one's eyebrows / fig. desperately serious situation | |
| 置之死地而后生 | zhì zhī sǐ dì ér hòu shēng | (idiom based on Sunzi's "The Art of War" 孫子兵法|孙子兵法[Sun1zi3 Bing1fa3]) to deploy one's troops in such a way that there is no possibility of retreat, so that they will fight for their lives and win the battle / to fight desperately when confronted with mortal danger / to find a way to emerge from a dire situation | |
| 拼争 | pīn zhēng | to fight desperately | |
