desirable

See also: désirable

English

Etymology

From Old French desirable.

Morphologically desire +‎ -able.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɪˈzaɪəɹəbəl/, [dɪˈzaɪ(j)əɹəbəɫ]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adjective

desirable (comparative more desirable, superlative most desirable)

1. Worthy to be desired; pleasing; agreeable.

   This applicant has almost all desirable properties.

   • 1956 July, “New Works on District Line, L.T.”, in Railway Magazine, page 485:

     It has long been recognised that complete segregation of control of the respective services provided by the two undertakings, and of the power supply, signalling, and tracks relating to each was desirable.

   • 1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page vii:

     With fresh material, taxonomic conclusions are leavened by recognition that the material examined reflects the site it occupied; a herbarium packet gives one only a small fraction of the data desirable for sound conclusions. Herbarium material does not, indeed, allow one to extrapolate safely: what you see is what you get […]

Antonyms

• undesirable

Derived terms

• desirability
• desirableness
• indesirable
• nondesirable
• ultradesirable

Translations

suitable to be desired

Albanian: dëshirueshëm (sq) Armenian: ցանկալի (hy) (cʻankali) Bulgarian: желан (bg) (želan), желателен (bg) (želatelen) Catalan: desitjable Chinese: Mandarin: 合意 (zh) (héyì), 合乎願望的 / 合乎愿望的 (héhū yuànwàng de), 令人滿意的 / 令人满意的 (zh) (lìng rén mǎnyì de) Czech: žádoucí (cs) Danish: ønskelig Dutch: wenselijk (nl) Esperanto: dezirinda Finnish: toivottava (fi), toivottu (fi), haluttava (fi), haluttu (fi) French: souhaitable (fr), désirable (fr) Galician: desexábel (gl) Georgian: სასურველი (sasurveli), სანატრელი (sanaṭreli) German: erwünscht (de), wünschenswert (de), begehrenswert (de), erstrebenswert (de), erstrebsam Greek: επιθυμητός (el) m (epithymitós) Ancient: ἐφετός (ephetós) Hebrew: רצוי (he) m (ratsúy), מבוקש m (mevukásh), נחשק m (nekhshák) Hungarian: kívánatos (hu) Italian: desiderabile (it) Japanese: 望ましい (ja) (のぞましい, nozomashii) Latin: optābilis Macedonian: пожелен (poželen), посакуван (posakuvan) Norwegian: Bokmål: ønskelig (also: desired) Nynorsk: ynskeleg, ynskjeleg, ønskeleg, ønskjeleg Polish: pożądany (pl) Portuguese: desejável (pt) Romanian: de dorit m or f, dezirabil (ro) Russian: жела́тельный (ru) (želátelʹnyj), жела́нный (ru) (želánnyj) Spanish: deseable (es), conveniente (es) Swedish: önskvärd (sv), eftersträvansvärd (sv) Thai: พึงประสงค์ (peung bpràsŏng), เป็นที่ต้องการ (bpen têe dtông gaan), ตามปรารถนา (dtaam bpràattànăa) Turkish: tatminkar Ukrainian: ба́жаний (uk) (bážanyj)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Swedish: (see önska) (please verify) önskad (sv)

Noun

desirable (plural desirables)

1. A thing that people want; something that is desirable.

   There are plenty of desirables on display in the window.

Anagrams

• barleeids, bride-ales, derisable, rideables

Middle French

Adjective

desirable m or f (plural desirables)

1. desirable