Word of the Day

Tuesday, March 12, 2002

desideratum

\dih-sid-uh-RAY-tum; -RAH-\ , noun;

plural desiderata

Something desired or considered necessary.

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Quotes:

No one in Berkeley -- at least, no one I consorted with -- thought art was for sissies, or that a pensionable job was the highest desideratum.

-- John Banville, "Just a dream some of us had", Irish Times, August 24, 1998

Immense wealth, and its lavish expenditure, fill the great house with all that can please the eye, or tempt the taste. Here, appetite, not food, is the great desideratum.

-- Frederick Douglass, My Bondage, My Freedom

A technical dictionary . . . is one of the desiderata in anatomy.

-- Alexander Monro, Essay on Comparative Anatomy

Origin:

Desideratum is from Latin desideratum, "a thing desired," from desiderare, "to desire."