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  • sought-after
    sought-after
    adjective
    that is in demand; desirable.
  • sought after
    sought after
    Also, much sought after. Very popular, in demand, as in He was much sought after as a throat specialist, particularly by singers. This expression uses the past participle of seek in the sense of “desired” or “searched for.” [Late 1800s]
Synonyms

sought-after

American  
[sawt-af-ter, -ahf-] / ˈsɔtˌæf tər, -ˌɑf- /

adjective

  1. that is in demand; desirable.

    a sought-after speaker.
sought-after British  

adjective

  1. in demand; wanted

"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
sought after Idioms  

  1. Also, much sought after. Very popular, in demand, as in He was much sought after as a throat specialist, particularly by singers. This expression uses the past participle of seek in the sense of “desired” or “searched for.” [Late 1800s]

Etymology

Origin of sought-after

First recorded in 1880–85

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.

Sought after, typically, by the technology, entertainment, media and other creative businesses that are gradually supplanting the defense giants that used to cluster near the airport.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 9, 2017

Sought after by the great and powerful in the twin worlds of Art and Fashion, Daisy in 1932 gave up her own career to marry a wealthy and successful young diplomat named Oskar Schlitter.

From Time Magazine Archive

Sought after by the Romans, and most nations, too eagerly, 39.-- 

From An Inquiry into the Permanent Causes of the Decline and Fall of Powerful and Wealthy Nations. Designed To Shew How The Prosperity Of The British Empire May Be Prolonged by Playfair, William

Sought after, courted, she soon forgot her comrade of the Odéon.

From Artist and Model (The Divorced Princess) by Pont-Jest, Ren? de

Sought after as his carcass is by every New England ornithologist, the mourning warbler exercises only a reasonable discretion in fighting shy of every animal that walks upright.

From A Rambler's lease by Torrey, Bradford

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.