Found wanting what does it mean ?

Question

What does it mean to be 'found wanting'?

I've wondered this for years. Guessing it's some kind of weakness.

Answer 1

After lost in the woods, I was found wanting a drink of water.  

Answer 2

google it

Answer 3

Goes as far back as ancient Egypt when the heart was weighed on the scales against a feather and if it was heavier than the feather you would be found wanting and not allowed to proceed from the underworld.

Answer 4

Found wanting means you don't measure up.

Answer 5

when you've "come up short"

Answer 6

Yes found wanting means you have been either shown up to be incompetent or you have failed at something.

Answer 7

They want something

Usually when someone says it to another, they are saying "You're are inferior, and are jelousy of me and what I have"

something like that

Answer 8

'Wanting' means deficient or lacking.  

To say someone is 'found wanting' is to say that it has been decided that they are lacking in some quality or qualities. If someone is not up to a task, not up to the job, we may say 'he was given the job but was found wanting' meaning that it turned out that he was not capable, not good enough, lacked the necesary qualities to do it properly: his skills were wanting.

Answer 9

It would seem that, when you looked for this phrase in your encyclopedia of phrases, the book was found wanting....

IOW, it (the book) was incomplete and "wanted" more information.

Answer 10

It's biblical, from Daniel 5:1-7, 25-31

http://www.dawnbible.com/1997/9710ib19.h...

To be "weighed, measured and found wanting", means, that you do not measure up, or are not good enough.

Answer 11

It comes from the Bible.  Ever heard of the saying, seeing the writing on the wall?  There's a story in the Bible where king Nebuchadnezzar received a message from God written on the wall which, translated into English, said "You have been weighed in the balance and found wanting."  It means that Nebuchadnezzar didn't measure up to God's standards and his days were numbered.  Nebuchadnezzar ignored God's warning and soon went insane.

Answer 12

It means that you are not as good, as skilled, or up to par in a certain area.

Answer 13

You are not playing with the full deck.