shortcoming
Americannoun
-
shortcomings
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of shortcoming
Explanation
The flaw in something is its shortcoming — your car's only shortcoming might be its lack of a sunroof, for example. Use the noun shortcoming when you talk about the way something — or someone — comes up short. Your boss's shortcoming could be her high expectations, and your job's shortcomings might be having to deal with your boss and not earning much money. The root of shortcoming is the phrase "to come short," which was used starting in the 1600's to mean "to be inadequate."
Vocabulary lists containing shortcoming
This Week In Words: October 19–25, 2019
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The singer’s upbringing, particularly her father’s illiteracy and his shame around what he considered a shortcoming, was what inspired her to launch the Imagination Library.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026
A reporting system that was originally designed to address intentional physical abuse now encourages people to report any perceived shortcoming in the care of children.
From Slate ● Jul. 7, 2026
But spokesman Pitambar Ghimire admitted that "our only shortcoming is proper implementation".
From Barron's ● Feb. 16, 2026
Mr. Slaughter’s reliance on the Sewards’ correspondence over vigorous narrative is both the book’s strength and its shortcoming.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 12, 2026
A physical shortcoming could produce a kind of mental excess.
From "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley
Therefore, the exposure both companies have to OpenAI means any shortcomings there would have an impact on near-term estimates, Birmingham said in emailed comments.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 12, 2026
Whatever its shortcomings, there is more than enough here to make attentive readers eager to see what Mr. Eastham does next.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
The shortcomings are tied to the Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money-laundering compliance program.
From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026
In a report following the first phase of the inquiry, chair Sir Martin Moore-Bick condemned LFB's "serious shortcomings" and systemic failures in its response to the fire.
From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026
Within days, he had remedied the experimental shortcomings that had prevented Lawrence from producing mesons, and before the end of the month had captured tracks of the first artificial mesons ever seen.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
