lacking 1 of 2

adjective

1
as in insufficient
not coming up to an expected measure or meeting a particular need we felt the afternoon television offerings were somewhat lacking in entertainment value

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in absent
not present or in evidence for the moment anyway, wood for the fireplace is lacking

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

lacking

2 of 2

verb

present participle of lack
as in begging

Related Words

Dissimilar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of lacking
Adjective
Where to Stay Ely hosts a handful of hotels and motels within town limits, but true luxury accommodations are somewhat lacking. — Stephanie Vermillion, Travel + Leisure, 18 Aug. 2026 Which is to say quality constraints on what Paramount could conceivably dump into theaters are totally lacking. — Chris Lee, Vulture, 13 Aug. 2026 So a resistance surveillance network across places where this is lacking, such as northwestern Nigeria, would bring a huge return on investment. — Christine Ro, Forbes.com, 23 July 2026 Despite severely lacking resources, the monuments men and women were able to find and retrieve more than five million items, many of them artworks that had been stolen by the Axis forces. — Encyclopedia Britannica, 14 July 2026 Rival broadcasters Channel 4 and Channel 5 — both reliant on advertising revenue and lacking Sky’s pay-TV cushion — are expected to raise competition concerns. — Scott Roxborough, HollywoodReporter, 8 July 2026 Shuffling the opposition across to make space for a switch to the far side is a viable method of attack, but that can then come at the cost of a central box presence, with Portugal lacking runners beyond the ball. — Mark Carey, New York Times, 2 July 2026 An honest review would tell you the coordination was a little lacking in this particular bit of maritime cosplay. — Ben Church, CNN Money, 23 June 2026 While sports governing bodies such as FIFA and the International Olympic Committee have come to recognize that press freedom is an essential part of their commitments to uphold human rights, results are vastly lacking. — Gypsy Guillén Kaiser, Fortune, 23 June 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for lacking
  1. insufficient
  2. absent
  3. begging
  4. scarce
  5. missing
  6. asking
  7. inadequate
  8. insisting
Adjective
  • Liman dismissed Baldoni’s lawsuit, finding that his claims against Lively, Reynolds and others were legally insufficient.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 26 Aug. 2026
  • And 29 percent of respondents said insufficient total stock is their biggest inventory concern.
    — Arthur Zaczkiewicz, Footwear News, 25 Aug. 2026
Definition of insufficient
Adjective
  • Commissioners Steve Harrelson and Raymond Jarvis were present while Michael White, the chairman, was absent.
    — Joseph Flaherty, Arkansas Online, 1 Sep. 2026
  • The effort, which had major bipartisan support, was abandoned in favor of vote pairing, an informal arrangement where an absent lawmaker coordinates with an opposing lawmaker who agrees to abstain or withhold their vote.
    — Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy, USA Today, 31 Aug. 2026
Definition of absent
Verb
  • This was in 1824, in London, and Shelley, twenty-seven, and two years the widow of Percy Bysshe Shelley, spent a season begging a mutual friend, the playwright and actor John Howard Payne, to set them up.
    — Eric Lach, New Yorker, 26 Aug. 2026
  • The title was the name of a red-haired, green-eyed young fan Parton met signing autographs, and the story of a woman begging a rival to leave her man alone.
    — RJ Smith, Los Angeles Times, 25 Aug. 2026
Definition of begging
Adjective
  • For reference, antimony is a relatively scarce metal/mineral used in things like flame retardants, batteries, electronics, and defense applications.
    — Christopher McFadden, Interesting Engineering, 30 Aug. 2026
  • David Szondy/New Atlas What was needed was a cheap, effective weapon that could be produced quickly and in large numbers with the scarce resources available in a country committed to total war.
    — David Szondy August 30, New Atlas, 30 Aug. 2026
Definition of scarce
Adjective
  • There’s no indication that the latest disaster, which has killed more than 600 people and left around 3,000 more missing on both sides of the border, was linked to manmade development.
    — Simone McCarthy, CNN Money, 29 Aug. 2026
  • Approximately 100 Americans remain missing, while five have been rescued, the department said Saturday.
    — Freddie Clayton, NBC news, 29 Aug. 2026
Definition of missing
Verb
  • Organizations often compete for the same experienced talent rather than asking who is creating the capability everyone wants to hire.
    — Sheila Callaham, Forbes.com, 29 Aug. 2026
  • Four baby goats from a North Carolina mobile petting zoo tested positive for rabies and were euthanized, and health officials are asking anyone who may have had contact with them to reach out for possible treatment.
    — Dennis Romero, NBC news, 29 Aug. 2026
Definition of asking
Adjective
  • Yields dipped and then rebounded in the wake of the Treasury buyback move, a signal that bond investors believed Bessent's moves were inadequate.
    — Alex Harring, CNBC, 25 Aug. 2026
  • Flat outsole sneakers lack the arch support that keeps the foot from rolling in and provide inadequate shock absorption.
    — Karla Rodriguez, Footwear News, 24 Aug. 2026
Definition of inadequate
Verb
  • That hasn’t stopped Casinos and sportsbooks, who have every reason to feel threatened by a more fair and transparent model, from insisting these markets have no economic utility.
    — Brian Quintenz, Fortune, 26 Aug. 2026
  • When the attention waned, Freedom showed up to one of Sophie Cunningham’s games, hoping to mooch off the fame of America’s new athlete face of trans resistance, wearing a shirt insisting that a woman is defined by biology alone.
    — Jerry Brewer, New York Times, 25 Aug. 2026
Definition of insisting

Browse Nearby Words

lackeys
lacking
lackluster
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Cite this Entry

“Lacking.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/lacking. Accessed 1 Sep. 2026.

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