MEANING
A fault or deficiency that prevents something from meeting a relevant expectation or standard.
Use it for
identifying a methodological weakness; criticizing an argument against a stated standard; distinguishing a remediable deficiency from a neutral scope limitIdentifies a specific deficiency relative to a standard rather than treating every limitation as a fault. Academic functions: Analysis / Interpretation.
Words that belong together
- methodological shortcomings
- a major shortcoming
- shortcomings in the evidence
On the page
A major shortcoming is the failure to explain how the cases were selected.
The review identifies shortcomings in the argument without dismissing its central insight.
Nearby words
Word forms
- Base
- shortcoming
Usage notes
Countable, often plural: shortcoming, shortcomings. Shortcomings of/in + method, account or argument. Register: neutral. Commonness: moderately common (qualitative editorial estimate, informed by dictionaries/corpus).
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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