desideratum.

A thing considered desirable or necessary, especially one not yet obtained.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• an essential desideratum
• the chief desideratum
• several desiderata

On the page

For the surveyors, a reliable map remained the chief desideratum.

The house met all her practical desiderata except the one she could not measure: privacy.

Usage notes

Primary category: literary. Forms: Singular desideratum; plural desiderata. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings.