wanting

1 falling short of a standard we tried her cooking and found it to be very wanting Synonyms bastard, bush, bush-league, crummy (also crumby), deficient, dissatisfactory, ill, inferior, lame, lousy, off, paltry, poor, punk, sour, suboptimal, subpar, substandard, unacceptable, unsatisfactory, wack [slang], bad, wretched, wrongRelated Words abysmal, atrocious, awful, bitchin' [slang], brutal, damnable, deplorable, detestable, disastrous, dreadful, execrable, gnarly [slang], horrendous, horrible, pathetic, stinky, sucky [slang], terrible, unspeakable; defective, faulty, flawed; egregious, flagrant, gross; bum, cheesy, coarse, common, crappy [slang], cut-rate, junky, lesser, low-grade, low-rent, mediocre, miserable, reprehensible, rotten, rubbishy, second-rate, shoddy, sleazy, trashy; abominable, odious, vile; useless, valueless, worthless; inadequate, insufficient, lacking, meager (or meagre), mean, miserly, niggardly, scanty, shabby, short, skimp, skimpy, spare, stingy; miscreant, scurrilous, villainous; counterfeit, fake, phony (also phoney), shamNear Antonyms classic, classical; A1, bang-up, banner, boss [slang], capital, choice, crackerjack, dandy, divine, excellent, exceptional, fabulous, fine, first-class, first-rate, grand, great, groovy, heavenly, high-test, jim-dandy, keen, marvelous (or marvellous), mean, neat, nifty, noble, par excellence, perfect, premium, prime, sensational, slick, splendid, stellar, sterling, superb, superior, superlative, supernal, swell, terrific, tip-top, top, top-notch, unsurpassed, wonderful; better, exceptional, fancy, high-grade, special, sufficient; average, borderline, fair, mediocre, middling, minimal, so-so, unexceptional; suitable, useful, worthy; gratifying, satisfyingAntonyms acceptable, adequate, all right, decent, fine, OK (or okay), passable, respectable, satisfactory, standard, tolerable

2 not coming up to an expected measure or meeting a particular need at this time of year food for many wild animals is wanting Synonyms deficient, inadequate, insufficient, lacking, low, scarce, shy, shortRelated Words substandard, unacceptable, unsatisfactory; hand-to-mouth, lean, light, meager (or meagre), niggardly, poor, scant, scanty, skimp, skimpy, slender, slim, spare, sparse, stingy; bare, mere, minimum; slight, smallNear Antonyms abundant, ample, bounteous, bountiful, copious, generous, liberal, plenteous, plentiful, plentitudinous; enlarged, expanded, supplemented; abounding, overflowing, teeming; satisfactory, tolerable; lavish, luxuriant, rich; big, considerable, hefty, jumbo, king-size (or king-sized), large, largish, oversize (or oversized), sizable (or sizeable), substantial, superAntonyms adequate, enough, sufficient

3 not present or in evidence grass is almost entirely wanting in that arid wasteland Synonyms lacking, missing, nonexistent, absentRelated Words dead, departed, extinct, lost, perished, vanished; defunct, done, expired, finished, lapsed, obsolete, over, passé; inadequate, insufficient, rare, scarce, sparse, uncommonNear Antonyms active, alive, animate, living, thriving; current, going, prevailing, uncanceled; common, prevalent; apparent, conspicuous, evident, obvious, plainAntonyms existent, present

not having a mitten wanting its mate Synonyms absent, minus, sans, without