deficiency
/dɪˈfɪʃ(ə)nsi
/noun (plural deficiencies)
1A lack or shortage: deficiencies in material resources...
- Sunscreen prevented sunlight from generating vitamin D in the skin, risking serious deficiencies in the long run.
- Other risk factors include deficiencies in vitamin A, beta-carotene, vitamin C, and folic acid.
- Like scurvy or pernicious anaemia, he puts it down to nutritional deficiencies in the modern diet: the lack of the essential vitamin B17.
Synonyms
insufficiency, lack, shortage, want, dearth, inadequacy, deficit, shortfall;
scarcity, scarceness, scantiness, paucity, absence, undersupply, sparseness, deprivation, meagreness, shortness
rare exiguity, exiguousness
1.1A failing or shortcoming: for all its deficiencies it remains his most powerful play...
- For if you love someone greatly, your love will be great enough to tolerate his or her shortcomings or deficiencies.
- Another remarkable feature Hu noticed in his early days in the city was the serious deficiency of work efficiency.
- And the plant did not consistently produce potable water because of system failures and operational deficiencies.
Synonyms
defect, fault, flaw, imperfection, weakness, weak spot/point, inadequacy, shortcoming, limitation, failing
1.2The amount by which something, especially revenue, falls short; a deficit: a budget deficiency of $96 billion...
- Bouttell tells members that Yorkshire have budgeted for a deficiency in the current year of £389,000.