Word.ws English Dictionary

leaving something to be desired

leaving something to be desired is the present participle and gerund 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 leaving something to be desired

What is leaving something to be desired the present participle and gerund of?
Leaving something to be desired is the present participle and gerund of leave something to be desired.

Words near leaving something to be desired in the dictionary

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: leaving 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: “leaving something to be desired.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/leaving_something_to_be_desired. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.