deficiency

[ dih-fish-uhn-see ]
See synonyms for deficiency on Thesaurus.com
noun,plural de·fi·cien·cies.
  1. the state of being deficient; lack; incompleteness; insufficiency.

  2. the amount lacked; a deficit.

Origin of deficiency

1
First recorded in 1625–35; from Late Latin dēficientia, Latin dēficient- (stem of dēficiēns ); see origin at deficient, -ency
  • Also Obsolete, deficience [dih-fish-uhns] /dɪˈfɪʃ əns/ .

Other words for deficiency

Other words from deficiency

  • non·de·fi·cien·cy, noun, plural non·de·fi·cien·cies.
  • pre·de·fi·cien·cy, noun, plural pre·de·fi·cien·cies.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use deficiency in a sentence

  • Its cause lies in the deficiences of the temporal power; its end in the mission of the spiritual.

    The History of Freedom | John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton
  • But upon these three kinds of writings I do not insist, because I have no deficiences to propound concerning them.

  • You know my deficiences; but you also know my burning desire to be at work.

    The Story of a Life | J. Breckenridge Ellis
  • You can make up for deficiences in the course, when once you have formed your ideal of completeness.

    Practical Essays | Alexander Bain
  • The other, because the bringing in of the deficiences did by consequence alter the partitions of the rest.

British Dictionary definitions for deficiency

deficiency

/ (dɪˈfɪʃənsɪ) /


nounplural -cies
  1. the state or quality of being deficient

  2. a lack or insufficiency; shortage

  1. another word for deficit

  2. biology the absence of a gene or a region of a chromosome normally present

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