noun
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Origin of shortage
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How does shortage compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
A shortage is a lack of something, especially a severe lack. A drought is a shortage of water. When there's a shortage, there's not enough of something. If you don't have enough money to pay your bills, you have a shortage of money. A bad football team may have a shortage of good players. This kind of shortage is like a deficit or shortfall. A shortage can also be a severe dearth of something, like a famine, which is a lack of food. If there's a drought because of little rainfall, that's a serious shortage.
Vocabulary lists containing shortage
World War I
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World War II
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Paltry Parlance: Synonyms for "Few"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The researchers also identified a surprising shortage of very small TNOs compared with predictions from some existing planet formation models.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 2, 2026
Candy prices are up 44% since 2021, but two groups of innovators are striving to solve the growing cocoa-bean shortage.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026
One of the main reasons for the shortage is that Wales has more radiology departments affected by recruitment freezes than anywhere in the UK.
From BBC ● Nov. 1, 2026
In the final stretch of the midterm campaign, U.S. politicians made no shortage of notable quips and remarks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
The worker shortage caused by the war left the shapeup empty and laborers in high demand.
From "A Few Red Drops: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919" by Claire Hartfield
The AI boom has created shortages and rising prices for several critical products.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 2, 2026
The sector faces rising production costs, energy shortages, international competition and heavy dependence on Western retailers.
From Barron's ● Nov. 2, 2026
Betsi Cadwaladr health board, which covers one of the areas most affected by shortages, said recruitment was ongoing and, despite a substantial increase in demand for scans, reporting times had improved.
From BBC ● Nov. 1, 2026
A group portrait honors Black Red Cross nurses, who had long been excluded from training programs and were recruited during labor shortages toward the end of World War I.
From Barron's ● Nov. 1, 2026
The previous year, he had assumed command of construction of the Pentagon, then beleaguered by labor problems, material shortages, cost overruns, and miserable work conditions.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
