adj
Meaning 1
Worthy to be desired; pleasing; agreeable.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- This applicant has almost all desirable properties.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
desirable
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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Received-Pronunciation: /dɪˈzaɪəɹəbəl/
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Received-Pronunciation: [dɪˈzaɪ(j)əɹəbəɫ]
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Canada, General-American: /dɪˈzaɪɹəbəl/
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Canada, General-American: [dɪˈzaɪɹəbəɫ]
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Canada, General-American: [dɪˈzaɪɹəbɫ̩]
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California: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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CMU ARPABET: D IH0 Z AY1 R AH0 B AH0 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
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CMU ARPABET 2: D IH0 Z AY1 ER0 AH0 B AH0 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
adj
Meaning 2
Sexually attractive.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
A thing that people want; something that is desirable.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- There are plenty of desirables on display in the window.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adjective
Meaning 4
worth having or seeking or achieving
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- a desirable job
- computer with many desirable features
- a desirable outcome
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: undesirable
adjective satellite
Meaning 5
worthy of being chosen especially as a spouse
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- the parents found the girl suitable for their son
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: suitable, worthy
Antonyms: none provided
History
Etymology
From Old French desirable. Morphologically desire + -able.
Across languages
Translations
58 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Albanian: dëshirueshëm — suitable to be desired
- Armenian: ցանկալի (cʻankali) — suitable to be desired
- Bulgarian: желан (želan) — suitable to be desired
- Bulgarian: желателен (želatelen) — suitable to be desired
- Catalan: desitjable — suitable to be desired
- Chinese Mandarin: 合意 (héyì) — suitable to be desired
- Chinese Mandarin: 合乎願望的 /合乎愿望的 (héhū yuànwàng de) — suitable to be desired
- Chinese Mandarin: 令人滿意的 /令人满意的 (lìng rén mǎnyì de) — suitable to be desired
- Czech: žádoucí — suitable to be desired
- Danish: ønskelig — suitable to be desired
- Dutch: wenselijk — suitable to be desired
- Esperanto: dezirinda — suitable to be desired
- Finnish: toivottava — suitable to be desired
- Finnish: toivottu — suitable to be desired
- Finnish: haluttava — suitable to be desired
- Finnish: haluttu — suitable to be desired
- French: souhaitable — suitable to be desired
- French: désirable — suitable to be desired
- Galician: desexábel — suitable to be desired
- Georgian: სასურველი (sasurveli) — suitable to be desired
- Georgian: სანატრელი (sanaṭreli) — suitable to be desired
- German: erwünscht — suitable to be desired
- German: wünschenswert — suitable to be desired
- German: begehrenswert — suitable to be desired
- German: erstrebenswert — suitable to be desired
- German: erstrebsam — suitable to be desired
- Greek: επιθυμητός (epithymitós) — suitable to be desired
- Ancient Greek: ἐφετός (ephetós) — suitable to be desired
- Hebrew: רצוי (ratsúy) — suitable to be desired
- Hebrew: מבוקש (mevukásh) — suitable to be desired
- Hebrew: נחשק (nekhshák) — suitable to be desired
- Hungarian: kívánatos — suitable to be desired
- Italian: desiderabile — suitable to be desired
- Japanese: 望ましい (nozomashii) — suitable to be desired
- Latin: optābilis — suitable to be desired
- Macedonian: пожелен (poželen) — suitable to be desired
- Macedonian: посакуван (posakuvan) — suitable to be desired
- Norwegian Bokmål: ønskelig — suitable to be desired
- Norwegian Nynorsk: ynskeleg — suitable to be desired
- Norwegian Nynorsk: ynskjeleg — suitable to be desired
- Norwegian Nynorsk: ønskeleg — suitable to be desired
- Norwegian Nynorsk: ønskjeleg — suitable to be desired
- Polish: pożądany — suitable to be desired
- Portuguese: desejável — suitable to be desired
- Romanian: de dorit — suitable to be desired
- Romanian: dezirabil — suitable to be desired
- Russian: жела́тельный (želátelʹnyj) — suitable to be desired
- Russian: жела́нный (želánnyj) — suitable to be desired
- Spanish: deseable — suitable to be desired
- Spanish: conveniente — suitable to be desired
- Swedish: önskvärd — suitable to be desired
- Swedish: eftersträvansvärd — suitable to be desired
- Swedish: åtråvärd — suitable to be desired
- Thai: พึงประสงค์ (peung bpràsŏng) — suitable to be desired
- Thai: เป็นที่ต้องการ (bpen têe dtông gaan) — suitable to be desired
- Thai: ตามปรารถนา (dtaam bpràattànăa) — suitable to be desired
- Turkish: tatminkar — suitable to be desired
- Ukrainian: ба́жаний (bážanyj) — suitable to be desired
Real reading context