desideratum
- noun
- /ˌdɛzɪˈdɛrətəm/
- Formal
- Access to healthcare is a basic desideratum for many communities around the world.
- remains a desideratum
Examples
-
Beyond that embarrassment lies my own desideratum.
Fiction book (1997) -
Inasmuch as the illumination of both these contexts has been extremely helpful, their integration remains a desideratum for further study.
Academic text (2007) -
And what then is the desideratum on a successful account?
-
This third desideratum is, in a way, a consequence of the second one.
Academic text (1999) -
And yet "community" in the abstract remains a universal desideratum.
Academic text (2000) -
Thanks to the influence of political and liberation theologies, such a desideratum is now widely accepted.
Academic text (1990) -
Instead, it offered the secular 'ideal' of continuous and widespread consumption as the basic desideratum of social life.
Academic text (1999) -
This freedom of action, which Epstein considers a desideratum for employers, is what we presently have in college admissions.
Academic text (1998) -
But I take it as a desideratum that a market-facilitating justification of contract law will give courts reason to enforce even these promises, other things being equal.
Academic text (2018) -
For, if either requirement were part of Locke's starting point, equality of resources looms far larger as a desideratum for Locke than we might otherwise think.
Academic text (1990)
Synonyms
Something you need for a particular purpose or situation
A thing you need to live, like food or water
A thing that people want or need
How Needed
Surface Forms
Etymology
The word desideratum comes from the Latin desiderare, which means 'to desire' or 'to long for', and is the same root as the English word desire. So a desideratum is something that is strongly wanted or needed.