insufficiencyn.
/ɪnsəˈfɪʃənsi/ The quality or condition of being insufficient.† 1.
a. Of a person: Inability to fulfil requirements; unfitness, incapacity, incompetence. Obsolete or archaic.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > ability > inability > [noun] > for what is required > personal
insuffisancec1400
insufficiencea1464
unsuffisance1483
insufficienta1513
insufficiency1526
insufficientnessc1585
incompetencea1716
inadequacy1817
1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection Pref. sig. Aiiv Ascribe it..to my insufficiency and ignoraunce.
1597 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie v. xxxi. 66 His aptnes or insufficiencie otherwise then by reading to instruct the flocke.
1624 in W. H. Stevenson Rec. Borough Nottingham (1889) IV. 391 We present Maister Wylleam Borrowes, Vsher of the Free Scoole, for his insuficientie.
1741 S. Richardson Pamela IV. xiii. 80 His Lady is always accusing herself to me of Awkwardness and Insufficiency; but not a Soul who sees her, can find it out.
1751 Earl of Orrery Remarks Swift (1752) 7 When he appeared as a candidate for the degree of Batchelor of Arts, he was set aside on account of insufficiency.
1767 J. Wilkes Corr. (1805) III. 211 The office he bears with the utmost discredit to himself, and with equal disgrace and insufficiency to the public.
b. with plural. An example of this.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > ability > inability > [noun] > for what is required > personal > example of
insufficiency1756
incompetency1871
1756 C. Lucas Ess. Waters i. Pref. It will enable the public to detect their insufficiencies.
1773 H. Chapone Lett. Improvem. Mind II. 15 A due sense of his own faults and insufficiencies.
1850 Ld. Tennyson In Memoriam cx. 173 I, who gaze with temperate eyes On glorious insufficiencies, Set light by narrower perfectness. View more context for this quotation
2. Of a thing: Deficiency in effectiveness, force, quality, or amount; inadequacy.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > quantity > insufficiency > [noun]
unsuffisant1387
over-little?a1400
non-suffisantee1425
unsufficience1445
insufficience1486
insufficiency1531
faintness1543
non-sufficiency1584
non-sufficience1598
incompetence1663
the mind > goodness and badness > inferiority or baseness > imperfection > [noun] > an imperfection > want or shortcoming
wanec888
waningc1320
brist1340
insufficience1486
insufficiency1531
want1553
deficiency1664
shortcominga1687
shortfall1895
1531 T. Elyot Bk. named Gouernour i. i. sig. Aiv The wordes, publike and commune, which be borowed of the latin tonge for the insufficiencie of our owne langage.
1632 in S. R. Gardiner Rep. Cases Star Chamber & High Comm. (1886) 135 For the insufficiencie of the plea Mr. Brome did taxe costes at 20s.
1769 W. Robertson Hist. Charles V III. x. 254 He now felt the insufficiency of his own resources.
1814 T. Chalmers Evid. Christian Revel. i. 12 There is an insufficiency of data.
1860 J. Tyndall Glaciers of Alps ii. xiii. 296 These experiments..prove the insufficiency of the theory.
3. Physical incapacity or impotence; inability of a bodily organ to do its work. Also attributive.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > [noun] > physical incapacity
disableness1598
insufficiency1714
1714 R. Steele Lover No. 40 (1723) 227 The Marriage afterwards being declared Null, by Reason of his Insufficiency.
1881 A. Flint Treat. Princ. Med. (ed. 5) 334 The existence of so-called relative insufficiency of the valves.
1886 New Sydenham Soc. Lexicon Insufficiency,..inability to perform normal work. Usually applied to imperfect action of the valves of the heart.
1897 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. IV. 555 According to this view the nervous and insufficiency theories are combined.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1900; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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