Definition of "wanting" []

• Absent; lacking. (adjective)
• Not measuring up to standards or expectations. (adjective)
• Without. (preposition)
• Minus; less: an hour wanting 15 minutes. (preposition)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "He had no faith -- he was a hardened unbeliever -- and she could not make herself think of that at all -- could not stop herself from wanting -- _wanting_ him for her own, whatever happened."
• "What otherwise was wanting in the security for the Nabob's engagements was to be supplied as follows: "The most respectable persons of his family will be employed to counteract every other which may tend to warp him from it; and I am sorry to say _that such assistance was wanting_.""
• "yea cause wanting to be the center of attention for college students is so much more high brow than say..wanting your book made into a movie"