(~s)
1.
The ~s of someone or something are their faults or unsatisfactory features.
Like many in Russia, she blamed the country’s ~s on futile attempts to catch up with the West...
= shortcoming
N-COUNT: usu pl, oft with poss
2.
You say ~ that to introduce an alternative, in case what you have just said is not possible.
Find someone who will let you talk things through, or ~ that, write down your thoughts.
PHRASE: PHR with cl/group