- 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.
Kindred Squared said the West Midlands had seen one of the biggest declines in school readiness in the country, with the number of children lacking skills such as toileting increasing year on year.
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026
Startups are increasingly inking deals with unreliable providers out of desperation, like ones lacking proper security or weaker infrastructure.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2026
With government oversight of supply chains sometimes lacking, industry-led certification programs have sought to fill the gap and root out unsustainable, unethical or illegal practices.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026
This is likely due to the loss of muscle or to a diet lacking in protein and other nutrients.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 8, 2026
“Maybe our buildings are lacking in originality,” Pa admitted.
From "The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs" by Betty G. Birney
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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.
