desirableness


Also found in: Thesaurus.

de·sir·a·ble

 (dĭ-zīr′ə-bəl)
adj.
1. Worth having or seeking, as by being useful, advantageous, or pleasing: a desirable job in the film industry; a home computer with many desirable features.
2. Worth doing or achieving; advisable: a desirable reform; a desirable outcome.
3. Arousing desire, especially sexual desire.
n.
A desirable person or thing.

de·sir′a·bil′i·ty, de·sir′a·ble·ness n.
de·sir′a·bly adv.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.desirableness - the quality of being worthy of desiring
goodness, good - that which is pleasing or valuable or useful; "weigh the good against the bad"; "among the highest goods of all are happiness and self-realization"
2.desirableness - attractiveness to the opposite sex
attractiveness - sexual allure
sultriness - the quality of expressing or arousing sexual desire; "the sultriness of her look was unmistakable"; "the sultriness of lust was in the air"
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
References in classic literature ?
Harriet expressed herself very much as might be supposed, without reproaches, or apparent sense of illusage; and yet Emma fancied there was a something of resentment, a something bordering on it in her style, which increased the desirableness of their being separate.
Norris was most zealous in promoting the match, by every suggestion and contrivance likely to enhance its desirableness to either party; and, among other means, by seeking an intimacy with the gentleman's mother, who at present lived with him, and to whom she even forced Lady Bertram to go through ten miles of indifferent road to pay a morning visit.
She would not speak to Anne with half the certainty she felt on the subject, she would venture on little more than hints of what might be hereafter, of a possible attachment on his side, of the desirableness of the alliance, supposing such attachment to be real and returned.
Vincy was inclined to take a jovial view of all things that evening: he even observed to Lydgate that Fred had got the family constitution after all, and would soon be as fine a fellow as ever again; and when his approbation of Rosamond's engagement was asked for, he gave it with astonishing facility, passing at once to general remarks on the desirableness of matrimony for young men and maidens, and apparently deducing from the whole the appropriateness of a little more punch.
The harpooner suggested the eminent desirableness of a drink, and Scotty searched his pockets for dimes and nickels.
She deliberately demonstrated that she was desirable to other men, as he involuntarily demonstrated his own desirableness to the women.