desideratum

[dih-sid-uh-rey-tuh m, -rah-, -zid-]

See more synonyms for desideratum on Thesaurus.com

noun, plural de·sid·er·a·ta

[dih-sid-uh-rey-tuh, -rah-, -zid-] /dɪˌsɪd əˈreɪ tə, -ˈrɑ-, -ˌzɪd-/.

something wanted or needed.

Origin of desideratum

1645–55; < Latin, noun use of neuter past participle of dēsīderāre; see desiderate

desiderata

[dih-sid-uh-rey-tuh, -rah-, -zid-]

plural noun, singular de·sid·er·a·tum.

things wanted or needed; the plural of desideratum: “Happily-ever-after” and “eternal love” appear to be the desiderata of the current generation; to whom “fat chance” say those of us who are older, wiser, and more curmudgeonly.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for desideratum

requirement, precondition, prerequisite, fundamental, obligation, essential, urgency, use, right, wish, commitment, demand, specification, stipulation, qualification, need, provision, condition, concern, desire

Examples from the Web for desideratum

Contemporary Examples of desideratum

To produce and to sell securities in the greatest possible quantity—that was the desideratum.'
Goldman's Crisis Control
Michael Thomas
July 21, 2009

Historical Examples of desideratum

If health is a desideratum, one way to attain a lot of it is to cut out the booze.
The Old Game
Samuel G. Blythe
An appearance of antiquity is never a desideratum to the honest book-collector.
The Book-Hunter at Home
P. B. M. Allan
A revision of genus Cratægus has long been a desideratum with botanists.
Handbook of the Trees of New England
Lorin Low Dame
For in that summery clime shade, not sun, is the desideratum.
The Free Lances
Mayne Reid
There is no sentiment in botany or in chemistry, and in them the desideratum is truth.
Madame Bovary
Gustave Flaubert

British Dictionary definitions for desideratum

desideratum

noun plural -ta (-tə)

something lacked and wanted

Word Origin for desideratum

C17: from Latin; see desiderate

desiderata

noun

the plural of desideratum

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for desideratum

"something lacking," see desiderata.

desiderata

plural of desideratum (1650s), from Latin, literally "something for which desire is felt," from past participle stem of desiderare "to long for" (see desire).