In English, many things are named after a particular country – but have you ever wondered what those things are called in those countries?
adjetivo
1
1.1(frantic, reckless)
(person/attempt) desesperadoto be desperate — estar desesperado- they're getting desperate — se están empezando a desesperar
- these are desperate measures — estas son medidas tomadas en la desesperación
- in a desperate struggle for survival — tratando por todos los medios de sobrevivir
- I'm afraid he may do something desperate — tengo miedo de que haga alguna locura
- Because of this realism, though, the final desperate act of the movie is unlikely.
- Now suppose there is a desperate bandit lurking in the fields and one thousand men set out in pursuit of him.
- The only person that would commit such a deed would be a desperate criminal, accustomed to a life of outlawry.
- Try comprehending the situation that would drive someone to this sort of desperate act.
- They gave their lives in a desperate attempt to save others.
- Deportation detainees frequently resort to desperate acts to protest their imprisonment.
- But that doesn't disguise the reality that they are scraping the barrel in a desperate attempt to save a dying industry.
- Some type of containment is a must in order to capture the most dangerous and desperate criminal we face in law enforcement.
- In a last, desperate act to save himself, James looked at his watch and pretended to be shocked.
- Finally, a desperate act of blind revenge led him to the scaffold.
- The post operator admitted there would be closures in a desperate bid to deal with the financial crisis gripping the company, but said they would not be on the scale that had been claimed.
- This is all preamble to the final desperate act staged by John and the guards and carried out with great danger and difficulty.
- Ignored or abused by alcoholic parents, his desperate acts were the only way he could elicit any show of concern from them.
- With such a tiny enrolment, online education was a desperate act to keep the course viable.
- The ship was breaking up and the last survivors were making rafts in desperate attempts to save their lives.
- It is the desperate act of a person who is in deep mental anguish.
- Charles took this desperate act in an attempt to reinforce his position in Germany.
- In fact, it is an account of a desperate, doomed attempt to transcend meaninglessness.
- And it's blowing the lid off of everything that experts believe about the most desperate and dangerous people on earth.
- In the Wild West, no single lawman could possibly stop a gang of desperate outlaws.
- The townsfolk were reluctant to pursue them, for they were ill-equipped to chase well-armed and desperate outlaws into the wild, isolated regions where the criminals knew every trail and hiding place.
- The Narcotics Branch arrested a desperate criminal.
- A career woman was today in prison after swindling more than £230,000 out of her employer in a desperate attempt to save her marriage.
- We search the poems as if they are cryptic clues to some hidden meaning that might explain the desperate act.
- It was a desperate attempt to save his marriage, which was on the verge of breaking up.
- It was the desperate act of a disgruntled former city employee who was refused his old job back.
- When farming was invented 10,000 years ago, was it a desperate measure to deal with environmental crisis?
1.2informal (in urgent need)
where's the bathroom? I'm desperate! — ¿dónde está el baño? estoy que no (me) aguanto más coloquial- desperate for sth
- she's desperate for work — está desesperada por conseguir trabajo
- I'm desperate for a cup of tea — estoy que me muero por una taza de té
- desperate to + inf
- I'm desperate to get home — estoy que me muero por / no veo la hora de llegar a casa
- That they're so desperate for such basic items leaves little doubt about how much longer this aid effort is going to have to be maintained.
- The weather was desperate - 10 degrees and savagely wet but we still loved every minute, and I think that speaks volumes for this place.
- It is not a matter of being too proud to accept somebody else's ideas; frankly, we are desperate for them, because there are some problems we simply do not know the answers to.
- ‘We are desperate for community facilities in the area and here we have something that works, so we should just leave it alone,’ he told the meeting.
- She's desperate for ice cream, or anything else to eat, tormented by a constant hunger that never, ever goes away.
- As you can probably tell from the nature of my posts, I didn't really start this off with any kind of plan and now I'm pretty desperate for topics to talk about.
- I was so desperate for the object of my craving that I almost blurted out, ‘Are you going to buy that?’
- We are desperate for any offers of support at this stage because we are starting from scratch.
- But we are desperate for more men and women to join us.
- I was desperate for some escape from the loneliness and from my own violent mood swings, but I was also determined to finish out the semester.
- ‘They were so desperate for the warmth of a human being,’ she said.
- The good thing is that some of the supermarkets sell really cheap jeans and trousers which is what we are desperate for.
- And we are desperate for more contacts in the UK and abroad.
- We are desperate for people to come and help us to keep the group running.
- You know those days when you are just desperate for someone to see things they way you do, to feel the things you feel, to cry over a stupid story, you ache to feel a connection with someone, anyone.
- ‘We are desperate for people to acknowledge that the council is looking at a city-wide strategy,’ he adds.
- They were desperate for somebody to do something.
- The bear meat had run out, and she was desperate for more.
- We are still desperate for a midfield enforcer.
- Looking at him, with his horrific face and reedy, boyish voice, I understood that he was just desperate for some sort of acceptance and credibility.
- As usual in February the weather was desperate with a blizzard and white out conditions as we arrived at car park.
- They don't know this man, yet, they are so desperate for a human connection, to find that partner, they'll convince themselves this is the guy.
2
2.1(critical)
(state/situation) grave(situation/state) desesperado(need) apremiantedesperate situations require desperate remedies — a grandes males, grandes remedios / soluciones- the house is in desperate need of repair — la casa necesita arreglos urgentes
- next week will do, it's not that desperate — la semana que viene está bien, no hay tanto apuro
- Developers have been quick to realise the desperate shortage of quality apartments in the city centre and are keen to make the most of the opportunity.
- Accident victims are being rushed between hospitals or left on trolleys for hours because of a desperate shortage of beds and staff.
- Private firms are cashing in on the desperate shortage of school teachers.
- Having said all this, what should be clear is that the pedagogy of teaching creative writing is in desperate need of critical attention.
- There is a certain kind of quick courage that farmers - still the backbone of our wealth - have always shown in sudden desperate circumstance.
- ‘No-one would leave their house and family if they were not in a desperate situation, in danger of their life,’ he says.
- The 20-year-old student was seriously ill and the situation was desperate.
- With more than 190,000 children already malnourished, and many more at risk, the circumstances are increasingly desperate.
- The latter was a major concession given the country's dire economic straits and desperate shortage of electricity.
- Today, there are few hospitals, a desperate shortage of medical supplies, and a massive health crisis.
- A £2.3m injection of government cash and worldwide recruitment trawls failed to resolve the desperate shortage of staff.
- I didn't think it was necessarily a bad idea in the desperate circumstances, but they eventually decided against it.
- We are now in a desperate situation and require urgent action.
- In London, the housing crisis is very acute, there is a desperate shortage of social housing and with house prices so unreachable for the majority, few people are able to buy.
- The result is a country - and continent - in desperate need of alternative transportation.
- But the system within which those teachers are working is in desperate need of reform, in many ways, and at many levels.
- In its defence, the police service would argue a history of underfunding has led to a desperate shortage of officers across the board.
- Thousands of people could suffer because a desperate shortage of doctors is threatening the future of two city surgeries.
- Well Lane was the most dangerous, and was an extremely fast road in desperate need of a pedestrian crossing, she said.
- Rapid changes in hospital designs, coupled with a desperate shortage, meant that hospitals were a promising field of specialisation for architects.
2.2British informal (awful)
terriblepésimo
Further reading

12 ways to say goodbye in other languages
Find out moreEnglish has borrowed many of the following foreign expressions of parting, so you’ve probably encountered some of these ways to say goodbye in other languages.

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