lack
an absence or inadequate amount of something needed, desirable, or customary: We had to severely limit our holiday gift shopping due to lack of funds.Lack of skill is the main reason he didn’t get the job.
something missing or needed: After he left, they really felt the lack.
to be without or deficient in: She wants to become an actor, but unfortunately she lacks ability.Many of the villagers lacked even the basic necessities of life.
to fall short of a target or requirement by (a particular amount): He lacks three votes to win.
to be absent or missing, as something needed or desirable: Three votes are lacking to make a majority.
lack in, to be short of or deficient in: What he lacks in brains, he makes up for in brawn.
Origin of lack
1Other words for lack
Opposites for lack
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use lack in a sentence
The court ruled she lacked the maturity to make her own medical decisions.
He acknowledged the theories but his voice lacked conviction.
Alfred Hitchcock’s Fade to Black: The Great Director’s Final Days | David Freeman | December 13, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe 2014 election was a wipeout, progressives say, because Democrats lacked a bold economic message to inspire voters.
Moscow officials insist that the hospitals listed for closure lacked professional services and often stayed half empty.
He was no teacher, and he lacked the tact required in getting along with his classes.
Stonewall Jackson, VMI’s Most Embattled Professor | S. C. Gwynne | November 29, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Fine soldier as he was, he lacked the essentials of the successful general—imagination and moral courage.
Napoleon's Marshals | R. P. Dunn-PattisonThe ceremony inevitably lacked certain of the traditional accessories that strangely influenced the popular mind.
King Robert the Bruce | A. F. MurisonThere might be in the school boys base enough to charge that he lacked spirit in his attitude of armed neutrality.
The Soldier of the Valley | Nelson LloydShe was hungry again, for the Highcamp dinner, though of excellent quality, had lacked abundance.
The Awakening and Selected Short Stories | Kate ChopinAll the rest of the family—Assiers and Tchaikovskys alike—not only lacked musical talent, but were indifferent to the art.
The Life & Letters of Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky | Modeste Tchaikovsky
British Dictionary definitions for lack
/ (læk) /
an insufficiency, shortage, or absence of something required or desired
something that is required but is absent or in short supply
(when intr, often foll by in or for) to be deficient (in) or have need (of): to lack purpose
Origin of lack
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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