lacking
[lak-ing]
- being without; not having; wanting; less: Lacking equipment, the laboratory couldn't undertake the research project.
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- wanting; deficient: He was found lacking in stamina.
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Origin of lacking
lack
[lak]
- deficiency or absence of something needed, desirable, or customary: lack of money; lack of skill.
- something missing or needed: After he left, they really felt the lack.
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- to be without or deficient in: to lack ability; to lack the necessities of life.
- to fall short in respect of: He lacks three votes to win.
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- to be absent or missing, as something needed or desirable: Three votes are lacking to make a majority.
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- lack in, to be short of or deficient in: What he lacks in brains, he makes up for in brawn.
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Origin of lack
1125–75; Middle English lak; cognate with Middle Low German lak, Middle Dutch lac deficiency; akin to Old Norse lakr deficient
Synonyms
See more synonyms for lack on Thesaurus.com1. dearth, scarcity, paucity, deficit, insufficiency. 1, 3. want, need.
Synonym study
3. Lack, want, need, require as verbs all stress the absence of something desirable, important, or necessary. Lack means to be without or to have less than a desirable quantity of something: to lack courage, sufficient money, enough members to make a quorum. Want may imply some urgency in fulfilling a requirement or a desire: Willing workers are badly wanted. The room wants some final touch to make it homey. Need often suggests even more urgency than does want stressing the necessity of supplying what is lacking: to need an operation, better food, a match to light the fire. Require, which expresses necessity as strongly as need, occurs most frequently in serious or formal contexts: Your presence at the hearing is required. Successful experimentation requires careful attention to detail.
Antonyms
1. surplus.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for lacking
Contemporary Examples
“The psychology of BDSM is lacking in other formal training regiments and interactions,” added Stella.
Lacking any sense of irony, Eldridge made campaign-finance reform a signature plank.
The Rise and Fall of Chris Hughes and Sean Eldridge, America’s Worst Gay Power CoupleJames Kirchick
December 9, 2014
His only known run-in with the law was a 300-euro fine for failing to stop at the scene of an accident and lacking insurance.
Strapped for medical staff and lacking in the resources needed to treat the 5,338 suspected cases, the numbers are soaring.
His tweets and Instagram photos also seem to point to a clear motive, lacking in so many other school shootings.
Historical Examples
"He certainly is not lacking in audacity," thought Mr. Morgan.
Brave and BoldHoratio Alger
And not only are these gone, but we are lacking in a knowledge of Hebrew phraseology.
A Theological-Political Treatise [Part II]Benedict of Spinoza
He began to understand, for he was not lacking in intelligence.
Within the LawMarvin Dana
Mary's usual quickness was not lacking even now, in this period of extremity.
Within the LawMarvin Dana
All these characteristics are lacking in the works after "Timon."
The Man ShakespeareFrank Harris
lack
- an insufficiency, shortage, or absence of something required or desired
- something that is required but is absent or in short supply
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- (when intr, often foll by in or for) to be deficient (in) or have need (of)to lack purpose
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Word Origin
C12: related to Middle Dutch laken to be wanting
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for lacking
lack
n.
c.1300, "absence, want; shortage, deficiency," perhaps from an unrecorded Old English *lac, or else borrowed from Middle Dutch lak "deficiency, fault;" in either case from Proto-Germanic *laka- (cf. Old Frisian lek "disadvantage, damage," Old Norse lakr "lacking"), from PIE *leg- "to dribble, trickle." Middle English also had lackless "without blame or fault."
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lack
v.
late 12c., perhaps from Middle Dutch laken "to be wanting," from lak (n.) "deficiency, fault," or an unrecorded native cognate word (see lack (n.)). Related: Lacked; lacking.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper