desiderate
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of desiderate
1635–45; < Latin dēsīderātus (past participle of dēsīderāre to long for, require), equivalent to dē- de- + sīder- (stem of sīdus ) heavenly body, constellation + -ātus -ate 1
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.
See Examples For:
There are two or three points, Mr Gilbert, on which I should like to arrive at that understanding which you pretend to desiderate.
From Miss Arnott's Marriage by Marsh, Richard
Discoverers should bear a little with beginners; and we suggest that, in a second edition, a full table should be given of what we desiderate.
From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 58, Number 360, October 1845 by Various
By one stroke of his pen the Apostle unfolds a heart-history; so that we desiderate no more—more would almost spoil the touching simplicity—“He whom Thou lovest!”
From Memories of Bethany by Macduff, John R. (John Ross)
It seemed also, owing to its height, to desiderate wings, but there were none.
From Ghost Stories of an Antiquary Part 2: More Ghost Stories by James, M. R. (Montague Rhodes)
Far be it from the present writer to regret or desiderate the adorably candid creature who so soon smirches her whiteness.
From A History of the French Novel, Vol. 2 To the Close of the 19th Century by Saintsbury, George
I may briefly reduce the chief persuading motive to this so needful and so much desiderated grace into some three or four heads.
From The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning by Binning, Hugh
Greatly was his return desiderated at this epoch.
From Quodlibet by Kennedy, John Pendleton
The desiderated advertisement, I think I have told you, was mighty near supplied: that is, if deportation would suit your view: the ship was actually sought to be hired.
From The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 25 (of 25) by Lang, Andrew
For an oracle, of course, he would have looked in another direction; but he desiderated something more on a level with himself, and that they abundantly supplied.
From Callista : a Tale of the Third Century by Newman, John Henry
They are of that class desiderated by Dr. Arnold—“I never wanted articles on religious subjects half so much as articles on common subjects, written with a decidedly religious turn.”
From History, Manners, and Customs of the North American Indians by Summers, Thomas O. (Thomas Osmond)
Desiderā′tion, the act of desiderating: the thing desiderated.—adj.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D) by Various
That possibility, I need hardly say, is one that, as the actual world goes, we have ample grounds for desiderating.
From Pragmatism by James, William
Perhaps that which we are desiderating could not be better expressed than by saying that we need a ministry prophetic and apostolic.
From The Preacher and His Models The Yale Lectures on Preaching 1891 by Stalker, James
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
