- present participle of lack.
lacking
Americanpreposition
adjective
Etymology
Origin of lacking
Explanation
If something's lacking, there's not enough of it. Your new house may be lacking when it comes to comfortable chairs, leading your friends to lounge on the floor instead. If there's a shortage of something, it's lacking. You might also describe something that's deficient — or not quite good enough — as lacking. If a substitute teacher is lacking in skill when it comes to controlling a rowdy class, he'll be exhausted by the end of his first day on the job. Finally, you can use this word in the sense of "absent": If your older brother's appetite is lacking, he might be coming down with something — usually he can eat an entire pizza on his own.
Vocabulary lists containing lacking
Absent
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Empty
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Scarce
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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.
"But what we are actually lacking the most right now is pilots. Of course, I hope the government can provide better additional allowances for these military pilots."
From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026
"The food is often lacking nutrition and it's important that patients have something to look forward to when they're going through a really tough time," she said.
From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026
Novo is the company behind blockbuster diabetes and weight-loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, but investors are concerned that its next-generation products are lacking.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 25, 2026
Documentary director Brett Ratner chases the aloof first lady from SUVs to private planes in a profile loaded with B-roll but lacking an A-story.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026
Atahuallpa’s presence at Cajamarca thus highlights one of the key factors in world history: diseases transmitted to peoples lacking immunity by invading peoples with considerable immunity.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
Definitions 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.
