deficit
- the amount by which a sum of money falls short of the required amount.
- the amount by which expenditures or liabilities exceed income or assets.
- a lack or shortage; deficiency.
- a disadvantage, impairment, or handicap: The team's major deficit is its poor pitching.
- a loss, as in the operation of a business.
Origin of deficit
Related Words for deficit
loss, shortfall, scantiness, default, lack, inadequacy, paucity, deficiency, insufficiency, shortcoming, arrears, dues, defalcation, underageExamples from the Web for deficit
Contemporary Examples of deficit
The deficit is down to 2.8 percent of GDP, from a high of 10.1 percent in the wake of the meltdown.
Then he faced a $3.7 billion deficit, the largest in state history, and the largest per capita in the nation.
Dan Malloy Is Progressives’ Dream Governor. So Why Isn’t He Winning?David Freedlander
October 30, 2014
Schools closed, the deficit ballooned, highways crumbled, jobs disappeared—I imagine ruby slippers were hocked.
Nor is the deficit, which has lost its saliency since it was cut in half to $500 billion.
That is to say, the factors that help drive the budget into deficit in the first place make them much worse.
Historical Examples of deficit
Their credit for 1901 was $10392, thus leaving a deficit for the beginning of the next year.
The Negro FarmerCarl Kelsey
But the addition or subtraction disclosed a deficit and he exclaimed at it.
The Paliser caseEdgar Saltus
But that due must be paid, not out of deficit, but out of surplus.
Home RuleHarold Spender
There will be a deficit in the accounts, just as the result of that.
A Survey of Russian Literature, with SelectionsIsabel Florence Hapgood
He might perhaps have dispersed the Assembly; he could not disperse debt and deficit.
Critical Miscellanies (Vol. 1 of 3)John Morley
deficit
- the amount by which an actual sum is lower than that expected or required
- an excess of liabilities over assets
- an excess of expenditures over revenues during a certain period
- an excess of payments over receipts on the balance of payments
Word Origin for deficit
Word Origin and History for deficit
1782, from French déficit (late 17c.), from Latin deficit "it is wanting," an introductory word in clauses of inventory, third person singular present indicative of deficere "to be deficient" (see deficient).
deficit
(dĕf′ĭ-sĭt)- A lack or deficiency of a substance.
- A lack or impairment in mental or physical functioning.
deficit
A shortage, especially the amount by which a sum of money falls short of what is required; a debt.