desideratum
[dih-sid-uh-rey-tuh m, -rah-, -zid-]
- something wanted or needed.
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Origin of desideratum
desiderata
[dih-sid-uh-rey-tuh, -rah-, -zid-]
- 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.
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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, desireExamples from the Web for desideratum
Contemporary Examples of desideratum
To produce and to sell securities in the greatest possible quantity—that was the desideratum.'
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 GameSamuel G. Blythe
An appearance of antiquity is never a desideratum to the honest book-collector.
The Book-Hunter at HomeP. B. M. Allan
A revision of genus Cratægus has long been a desideratum with botanists.
Handbook of the Trees of New EnglandLorin Low Dame
For in that summery clime shade, not sun, is the desideratum.
The Free LancesMayne Reid
There is no sentiment in botany or in chemistry, and in them the desideratum is truth.
Madame BovaryGustave Flaubert
desideratum
- something lacked and wanted
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Word Origin for desideratum
C17: from Latin; see desiderate
desiderata
- the plural of desideratum
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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.
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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).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper