desideratum

noun

de·​sid·​er·​a·​tum di-ˌsi-də-ˈrä-təm 

-ˌzi-,

-ˈrā- 

plural desiderata di-ˌsi-də-ˈrä-tə 

-ˌzi-,

-ˈrā-

: something desired as essential

detached individuality does not seem to be a desideratum of the Vedantic mind

—Robert Bierstedt

Did you know?

We'd like to introduce you to some close cousins of the common word desire. All trace their roots to the Latin sīder-, or sīdus, which has historically been understood to mean "heavenly body," but which may also have an older, non-celestial meaning of "mark, target, goal." Whether etymologically starry or grounded, dēsīderāre, meaning "to long for," was born when Latin de- was prefixed to sīder-. Dēsīderāre begat Anglo-French desirer, which in turn brought forth English desire, desirous, and desirable in the 13th and 14th centuries, with desideration following in the 15th. Then, in the 17th century, English acquired desiderate ("to wish for") and desideratum (desiderata in the plural), all of which can lay claim to direct ancestry from desiderare.

Examples of desideratum in a Sentence

a list of political desiderata

Recent Examples on the Web

The Trump administration has sought nothing less than a reformulation of U.S. policy on the two-state solution, bringing it in line with Netanyahu’s desiderata Among Netanyahu’s enablers, however, one partner stands out. —Aaron David Miller, Foreign Affairs, 30 June 2020

Some of the author costs are used to pay reviewers, causing one to question whether the process is always unbiased, as is the desideratum. —Neuroskeptic, Discover Magazine, 4 Apr. 2015

Diversity isn’t necessarily an ethical desideratum in a collection. —New York Times, 28 Sep. 2021

But there’s another overall desideratum: The system has to be straightforward enough to be managed easily — to get large numbers of people vaccinated as swiftly as possible. —Kwame Anthony Appiah, New York Times, 23 Feb. 2021

Remaining at home is invariably the desideratum for most among the elderly, and this includes the wish to die at home. —Joseph Epstein, WSJ, 17 Jan. 2020

We marketing teams came to believe we alone could save startups from untimely deaths by achieving the desideratum to end all desiderata: product/market fit. —Wired, 22 Oct. 2019

Airports supply the greatest desideratum of physical retail: foot traffic. —Daniel Gross, Slate Magazine, 7 Sep. 2017

Word History

Etymology

Latin, neuter of desideratus — see desiderate

First Known Use

1652, in the meaning defined above

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