mancato

Mancato is an Italian adjective and past participle of the verb mancare. It denotes absence, non-attendance, or non-fulfillment of an event, obligation, or expectation. It agrees with the noun it modifies, with forms such as mancato (masc. sing.), mancata (fem. sing.), mancati (masc. pl.), and mancatee (fem. pl.).

In everyday and formal use, mancato appears in phrases describing something that did not occur or was not fulfilled. Examples include pagamento mancato (missed payment), consegna mancata (undelivered or not completed delivery), and presenza mancata (absence). The term is common in administrative, legal, and contractual contexts to indicate non-fulfillment or failure to comply.

In sports discourse, mancato is used to label missed attempts, for instance tiro mancato (missed shot) or gol mancato (missed goal), where the emphasis is on an unsuccessfully executed action rather than the result being recorded as a goal.

In legal and regulatory language, mancato is often paired with nouns to describe non-fulfillment of obligations, such as mancata osservanza (failure to observe) or mancata consegna (failure to deliver). While it is widely understood, mancato tends to be used more in written or formal Italian; everyday speech may replace it with simpler expressions like non pagato or non avvenuto.

Etymologically, mancato derives from the verb mancare, which conveys absence or failure to meet a requirement. The term does not typically function as a standalone noun, but rather as an adjective in compound expressions that describe what did not occur or was not completed.