Word.ws English Dictionary

leaves something to be desired

leaves something to be desired is the third-person singular simple present indicative of leave something to be desired.

Meaning of leave something to be desired

Verb

leave something to be desired (third-person singular simple present leaves something to be desired, present participle leaving something to be desired, simple past and past participle left something to be desired)

  1. (idiomatic) to be insufficient in some aspect.
    • These instructions are too short not to leave something to be desired under certain circumstances; but the knowledge of veterinary surgeons will supply whatever may be incomplete[…]1835, An essay on the use of chlorurets of oxide of sodium and of lime, page 35

Questions about leaves something to be desired

What is leaves something to be desired the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Leaves something to be desired is the third-person singular simple present indicative of leave something to be desired.

Words near leaves something to be desired in the dictionary

  1. leaves someone on read
  2. leaves someone on seen
  3. leaves someone out in the cold
  4. leaves someone to their fate
  5. leaves someone to their own devices
  6. leaves something to be desired
  7. leaves the ball in someone's court
  8. leaves the chat
  9. leaves the door open
  10. leaves the nest
  11. leaves things alone

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: leaves something to be desired (page history and authors); leave something to be desired (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “leaves something to be desired.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/leaves_something_to_be_desired. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.