A.Word.A.Day --desideratum

A.Word.A.Day

About | Media | Search | Contact

Home

Today's Word

Yesterday's Word

Archives

FAQ

Apr 5, 2010

This week's theme
Miscellaneous words

This week's words
desideratum
limen
obdurate
quiescence
chicanery

Add your two cents'
worth to this week's theme and words. Or, if you wish, use paise, pence, yen, pesos, piasters, etc. Log on at our bulletin board
Wordsmith Talk

Discuss

Feedback

RSS/XML

A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

For a change, this week we don't fit words into pigeonholes, we don't put labels on them, we don't assign them to a particular category or arrange them into a theme. We just let them be.

The five words we've selected have nothing in common... well, if you try hard enough, you can probably find something, but enjoy this bouquet of assorted words, or a salmagundi of syllables, if you will.

desideratum

PRONUNCIATION:

(di-sid-uh-RAY-tuhm, -RAA-)

MEANING:

noun: Something considered necessary or desirable.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin desideratum (something desired), from desiderare (to desire).

USAGE:

"The researchers also asked what qualities the two groups [well-off vs street children] of young people would like to see in an 'ideal' Russian president. Twenty-nine percent of both groups said that the ideal president should be kind and tough, with the children of the street slightly more inclined than their better-off counterparts to stress kindness as a desideratum."
Paul Goble; Wealthier Moscow Teenagers More Inclined to View U.S. as Russia's Enemy; The Moscow Times (Russia); Jun 21, 2009.

See more usage examples of desideratum in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

A gun gives you the body, not the bird. -Henry David Thoreau, naturalist and author (1817-1862)

We need your help

Help us continue to spread the magic of words to readers everywhere

Donate

Subscriber Services
Awards | Stats | Links | Privacy Policy
Contribute | Advertise