the.com/shortcoming
A flaw with better PR than 'failure,' so you can admit it at dinner parties.
means A fault or deficiency — a way in which someone or something falls short of a standard, expectation, or ideal.
from A straightforward compound from the 1600s: 'short,' meaning falling below a mark, plus 'coming,' from the verb 'to come up to' or 'come short of' something. To 'come short' of a standard was common English phrasing long before 'shortcoming' calcified into a single noun — the verb phrase just got packaged into a tidier, more clinical-sounding word.
- origin
- literally means falling short of a standard
- usage shift
- softened from moral failing to minor quirk
- resume trick
- often disguised as a strength in disguise
- universal truth
- everyone has one, few can name it fast