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wanting. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
wanting, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
wanting in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
wanting you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From Middle English wantyng, wantynge, wantand, equivalent to want + -ing.
Adjective
wanting (comparative more wanting, superlative most wanting)
- That wants or desires.
- Absent or lacking.
1712 (date written), Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. , London: J Tonson, , published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 1:Already Cæſar
Has ravaged more than half the Globe, and ſees
Mankind grown thin by his deſtructive Sword:
Should he go further, Numbers would be wanting
To form new Battels, and ſupport his Crimes.
1813, Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, Modern Library Edition, published 1995, page 171:[…] but where other powers of entertainment are wanting, the true philosopher will derive benefit from such as are given.
1902, Proceedings: Entomological papers, volumes 25-26, United States National Museum, page 201:Discal black dot small or wanting. Transverse posterior line reduced to two dotlets or altogether wanting.
- Deficient.
1993, Dana Stabenow, Dead in the Water, →ISBN, page 151:Kate felt privileged to have been permitted to speak through it and she was glad that, as before, she had been judged and not found wanting
Derived terms
Translations
Preposition
wanting
- Without, except, but.
- Less, short of, minus.
Verb
wanting
- present participle and gerund of want
Etymology 2
From Middle English wantyng, wantynge, equivalent to want + -ing.
Noun
wanting (countable and uncountable, plural wantings)
- The state of wanting something; desire.
2004, Joseph H. Casey S.J., Life, Love, and Sex:Choice occurs only when we experience a conflict of wantings.