desideratum vs essential

desideratum and essential both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
desideratum	Yes	No	No	No
essential	Yes	Yes	No	No

As nouns, essential is a hypernym of desideratum; that is, essential is a word with a broader meaning than desideratum:

Other hypernyms of desideratum include necessary, necessity, requirement, requisite.

desideratum (noun)	essential (noun)
something desired as a necessity	anything indispensable

desideratum (adjective)	essential (adjective)
	basic and fundamental
	defining rights and duties as opposed to giving the rules by which rights and duties are established
	being or relating to or containing the essence of a plant etc
	of the greatest importance
	absolutely necessary; vitally necessary