desiderable

English

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin dēsīderābilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɪˈzɪdəɹəbəl/, /dɪˈzɪdɹəbəl/

Adjective

desiderable (comparative more desiderable, superlative most desiderable)

1. (obsolete) Desirable.
   • 1657, Plutarch, “Of the Tranquillity and Contentment of Mind”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Philosophy, Commonly Called, The Morals […], revised edition, London: […] S[arah] G[riffin] for J. Kirton, […], →OCLC, page 124:

     And moſt men verily are of the ſame nature, who paſſing by good and deſiderable things, which be (as a man would ſay) the pleaſant and potable liquors that they have, betake themſelves to thoſe that be harſh, bad, and unſavoury.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “desiderable”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)