budget deficit

British

noun

the amount by which government expenditure exceeds income from taxation, customs duties, etc, in any one fiscal year

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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.

And the federal budget deficit this year is expected to be $1.9 trillion.

From MarketWatch • Jun. 25, 2026

Nationally, he might be able to nationalize Thames Water, a troubled utility serving southern England, but bigger targets are constrained by the budget deficit.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 25, 2026

That will aggravate a budget deficit that already exceeded 6% of gross domestic product last year.

From Barron's • Jun. 22, 2026

But the next governor is going to face some really tough challenges, including a structural budget deficit that’s probably going to require both painful cuts and unpopular tax hikes.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 7, 2026

Through knowledge, political will, and perhaps some luck, we seem to have tamed inflation and the budget deficit.

From "Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing" by Ted Conover

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023