Wanting

Part of speech: adjective, verb

Pronunciation: /ˈwɑntɪŋ/

Definitions

1. Experiencing a yearning for something that is not present
2. Missing a required quality or element ; feeling a craving for something absent
3. Not possessing something needed or expected ; showing a wish to have something

Etymology: "Wanting" is the ordinary present participle of "want", formed by adding "-ing" to the verb. Its Middle English forms, "wantyng" and "wantynge", show the same construction at work in the medieval period, when English speakers were already using the verb in this way. The more interesting story lies in "want" itself, which once meant lacking something rather than desiring it. A person who was wanting was simply short of something needed, and the sense of longing for an absent thing grew out of that idea of being without. The adjective carries that older lack into its modern meaning: to be wanting is to be missing what one needs, and the yearning follows from the absence.

Synonyms: lacking, deficient, insufficient, desiring, yearning

Antonyms: satisfied, fulfilled, content, abundant, plentiful