wanting

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈwɑntɪŋ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈwɒntɪŋ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒntɪŋ

Etymology 1

From Middle English wantyng, wantynge, wantand, equivalent to want ‎ -ing.

Adjective

wanting (comparative more wanting, superlative most wanting)

1. That wants or desires.
2. Absent or lacking.
   • 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] 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.

3. 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

• find wanting
• wantingly

Translations

absent or lacking

• Arabic:

  Egyptian Arabic: عاوز

• Bulgarian: лишен (bg) (lišen), липсващ (bg) (lipsvašt)
• Irish: díothach, uireasach, easpach
• Persian: کم (fa) (kam)
• Portuguese: deficiente (pt), desprovido (pt), faltante (pt)
• Prakrit: 𑀡𑀽𑀡 (ṇūṇa)
• Sanskrit: ऊन (sa) (ūna)
• Scottish Gaelic: uireasbhach

Preposition

wanting

1. Without, except, but.
2. Less, short of, minus.

Verb

wanting

1. present participle and gerund of want

Etymology 2

From Middle English wantyng, wantynge, equivalent to want ‎ -ing.

Noun

wanting (countable and uncountable, plural wantings)

1. 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.