Link Centre Dictionary

deficiency

de·fi·ciency

UK/dɪˈfɪʃənsi/ US/dɪˈfɪʃʌnsi/ uncommon

noun

1.

the state of needing something that is absent or unavailable

  • “there is a serious lack of insight into the problem”
  • “water is the critical deficiency in desert regions”
  • “for want of a nail the shoe was lost”
Synonyms
2.

lack of an adequate quantity or number

  • “the inadequacy of unemployment benefits”
Synonyms
Antonyms

Origin

From deficient + -cy. Compare Latin dēficientia.

Phrases

  • acquired immune deficiency syndrome
  • ARSA deficiency
  • arylsulfatase A deficiency
  • boron deficiency
  • curve deficiency
  • deficiency disease
  • deficiency letter
  • G6PD deficiency

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.