deficit
[def-uh-sit; British also dih-fis-it]
- 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.
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Origin of deficit
1775–85; < Latin dēficit (it) lacks, 3rd person singular present indicative of dēficere; see deficient
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
loss, shortfall, scantiness, default, lack, inadequacy, paucity, deficiency, insufficiency, shortcoming, arrears, dues, defalcation, underageExamples from the Web for deficit
Contemporary Examples
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
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
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Word Origin
C18: from Latin, literally: there is lacking, from dēficere to be lacking
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for deficit
n.
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).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
deficit
(dĕf′ĭ-sĭt)- A lack or deficiency of a substance.
- A lack or impairment in mental or physical functioning.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
deficit
A shortage, especially the amount by which a sum of money falls short of what is required; a debt.
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The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.