desirable

adjective de·sir·able \ di-ˈzī-rə-bəl \

Definition of desirable

1 :having pleasing qualities or properties :attractive

"Mr. Darcy, you must allow me to present this young lady to you as a very desirable partner."
—Jane Austen

a house in a highly desirable location

2 :worth seeking or doing as advantageous, beneficial, or wise :advisable

desirable legislation

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desirableness

noun

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desirably

play \-blē\ adverb

See desirable defined for English-language learners

See desirable defined for kids

Examples of desirable in a Sentence

The house is in a highly desirable location.
The new stove has many desirable features.
the qualities that make a desirable business partner
The experiment did not achieve a desirable result.
a beautiful and desirable woman

Recent Examples of desirable from the Web

Whether is race, ability, size or anything else, the societal ideal of who is and who is not desirable is pretty slim — literally.

— brittney mcnamara, Teen Vogue, "Tess Holliday Instagrams That Fat People Have Sex Too," 29 Aug. 2017
To be sure, an unusually desirable city can get away with loud left-wing attitudes and still be a great business destination, as San Francisco has shown.

— jon talton, The Seattle Times, "Vote: What economic issues should Seattle mayoral candidates be addressing?," 28 July 2017
The thinking seems to be that someone younger would be most desirable (what’s new?), so that the actor could stick with the franchise for years and years and years.

— richard lawson, vanityfair.com, "How Young Should Batman Be?," 21 July 2017
The thinking seems to be that someone younger would be most desirable (what’s new?), so that the actor could stick with the franchise for years and years and years.

— richard lawson, HWD, "How Young Should Batman Be?," 21 July 2017
Jefferson County Master Gardener June Sandercock will describe pollinator behavior, desirable plants and other garden elements to welcome and nurture pollinators, 9 a.m. July 29.

— The Courier-Journal, "Home and garden events July 22 and beyond," 19 July 2017
When a company is desirable, perhaps due to its products, technology, patents, cash generation or growth prospects, a buyer might be in a bidding war.

— seattle times staff, The Seattle Times, "The Motley Fool: Useful tips on investing," 15 July 2017
Supporters of the legislation say restrictions and bureaucracy have made becoming a therapist less desirable.

— mary jordan, Washington Post, "The unexpected political power of dentists," 1 July 2017
The employees alleged they were denied promotions and transfers, given less desirable work assignments, harassed and wrongly fired in some cases because of their race.

— hal dardick, chicagotribune.com, "Lawsuit alleges racism at roiled Chicago water department," 29 June 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'desirable.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.