desired
Americanadjective
-
yearned or wished for; coveted.
-
deemed correct or proper; selected; required.
The chef added stock until the sauce reached the desired consistency.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of desired
A Middle English word dating back to 1250–1300; see origin at desire, -ed 2
Explanation
Anything desired is sought after. Money and love are desired by just about everyone. If your moony eyes don’t have the desired effect, then you’re still not getting seconds on dessert. If you desire something, you crave it. Something desired, then, is an object of desire. A desired job is one that many people seek. A desired cake looks delicious — you see it and you want to have it. When a type of clothing becomes popular, it’s desired by many. Some things are desired because they are rare, like a comic book with the first appearance of Batman. Anything desired is coveted.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Even though the applied voltage and the solution's composition remained unchanged, the researchers obtained almost none of the desired product.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 12, 2026
As a result, he says, "I think readers are coming to value very obviously personal writing, and maybe even writing that's messier, less structurally sound or composed or perfected, than they maybe once would've desired."
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026
For Symbotic, it was difficult to hit Walmart’s goals, primarily the desired “throughput,” the rate at which goods are processed, said people familiar with the situation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
“If the desired level of investment rises faster than the available pool of savings, the system needs a higher return to make the pieces fit.”
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 8, 2026
“Appropriate behaviors have to be shaped—shaped through successive approximations to the desired behavior,” says Darrow.
From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
