leave something to be desired
English
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Verb
[edit]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)
- (idiomatic) to be insufficient in some aspect.
- 1835, An essay on the use of chlorurets of oxide of sodium and of lime, page 35:
- 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 […]
- 1921, Foxes from Northern Argentina, page 386:
- […] the drawings of the bats, though very artistic, leave something to be desired as regards detail.
- 1951 November, R. K. Kirkland, “The Wimbledon and West Croydon Line of the Southern Region”, in Railway Magazine, page 726:
- Nevertheless, the trains are well patronised, for road services in the district leave something to be desired.
- 2013, Slow train to Guantanamo : a rail odyssey through Cuba in the last days of the Castros, page 125:
- To say Cuban train toilets leave something to be desired would not just be an understatement, it would suggest the person speaking inhabited an altogether alien reality.