wanting

/ˈwɑntɪŋ/

/ˈwɒntɪŋ/

If something's wanting, there's not enough of something necessary in it. If your essay is wanting, it's missing something important and won't get an A. Try adding body paragraphs.

If you forget the sugar in your chocolate chip cookies, you'll find them wanting when you taste them. Likewise, if your favorite team's defense is wanting, they're likely to lose the basketball game. Wanting, which was originally wantand, comes from the verb want, "to be lacking." This definition pre-dated the now more common "to wish for" by 500 years.

Definitions of wanting

1. adjective

   inadequate in amount or degree
   “tested and found wanting”

   synonyms: deficient, lacking

   inadequate, unequal

   lacking the requisite qualities or resources to meet a task
2. adjective

   nonexistent
   synonyms: absent, lacking, missing

   nonexistent

   not having existence or being or actuality