deficiency
[dih-fish-uh n-see]
- the state of being deficient; lack; incompleteness; insufficiency.
- the amount lacked; a deficit.
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Origin of deficiency
Synonyms
See more synonyms for deficiency on Thesaurus.com1. shortage, inadequacy, paucity, scarcity.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for deficiencies
Contemporary Examples
His deficiencies and self-doubts, amid his epochal mission of liberation, are precisely what make him interesting.
Deficiencies in vital nutrients cause skin to dry, lips to crack, and hair to fall out.
“By sixth grade, children are aware of their deficiencies,” Porter says.
I'd like to find some more efficient means of curing these deficiencies.
Just gaze upon its deficiencies in the current crisis with North Korea.
Historical Examples
I feel and confess my own deficiencies as an individual member.
The Works of Whittier, Volume VII (of VII)John Greenleaf Whittier
Still, nowadays it is reported that nearly all deficiencies have been made good.
The Three Cities Trilogy, CompleteEmile Zola
Its variety and symmetry.painters, and see if it atones for the deficiencies of the stems.
Modern Painters Volume I (of V)John Ruskin
Deficiencies in individuals, as in States, have their value and import.
The Book of KhalidAmeen Rihani
These two deficiencies, if deficiencies they be, only endear him the more to us.
The Fairy Tales of Charles PerraultCharles Perrault
deficiency
- the state or quality of being deficient
- a lack or insufficiency; shortage
- another word for deficit
- biology the absence of a gene or a region of a chromosome normally present
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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
Word Origin and History for deficiencies
deficiency
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
deficiency
(dĭ-fĭsh′ən-sē)- A lack or shortage of something essential to health; an insufficiency.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.