wanting — OET

wanting

adjective

1 when they came under siege the defences were found wanting:

deficient, inadequate, lacking, insufficient, imperfect, not up to standard/par, not good enough, disappointing, unsatisfying, unacceptable, not acceptable, not up to expectations, leaving much to be desired, flawed, faulty, defective, impaired, unsound, substandard, inferior, second-rate, poor, shabby, shoddy, patchy, sketchy, limited, restricted, incomplete, unfinished, unpolished, unrefined;

British, informal not much cop.

▷antonyms sufficient, acceptable.

2 the kneecap is wanting in amphibians and reptiles:

absent, missing, lacking, not there, not present, non-existent, not to be found, unavailable, short.

▷antonyms present.

3 millions were left wanting for food | we will not be wanting in confidence:

without, lacking, devoid of, bereft of, bankrupt of, destitute of, empty of, deprived of, free from/of, in need of;

deficient in, low on, short on;

informal minus, sans.

wanting Oxford Dictionary of English