lack
deficiency or absence of something needed, desirable, or customary: lack of money; lack of skill.
something missing or needed: After he left, they really felt the lack.
to be without or deficient in: to lack ability; to lack the necessities of life.
to fall short in respect of: He lacks three votes to win.
to be absent or missing, as something needed or desirable: Three votes are lacking to make a majority.
lack in, to be short of or deficient in: What he lacks in brains, he makes up for in brawn.
Origin of lack
1Other words for lack
Opposites for lack
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use lack in a sentence
There is also a lack of consumer applications that take advantage of the new technology so far.
Verizon plans to offer indoor 5G networks by year-end | Aaron Pressman | September 16, 2020 | FortuneAs if the business-worthiness of Jenn’s idea had already been foreclosed by the potential investors’ lack of familiarity with the underlying product.
‘How I Built This’ host Guy Raz on insights from some of the world’s most famous entrepreneurs | Rachel King | September 15, 2020 | FortuneHis lack of a reliable jumper from beyond midrange allows defenses to back away from him, daring him to shoot.
Everything Should Be On The Table For The Houston Rockets. Even James Harden’s Future. | Chris Herring (chris.herring@fivethirtyeight.com) | September 14, 2020 | FiveThirtyEightAlongside racial justice issues, Disposti said his top concerns are the department’s response to social services and mental health issues and lack of diversity of the police department’s staff.
Oceanside Is Rethinking Its Police Chief Hiring Process Following Community Concerns | Kayla Jimenez | September 14, 2020 | Voice of San DiegoDespite the risks, there’s a clear lack of regional diversity in many AI advisory boards, expert panels, and councils appointed by leading international organizations.
AI ethics groups are repeating one of society’s classic mistakes | Amy Nordrum | September 14, 2020 | MIT Technology Review
What designer West lacks in productivity, he more than makes up for in pure, unadulterated confidence and blind anger.
Kanye West and Kim Kardashian’s Balmain Campaign: High Fashion Meets Low Culture | Amy Zimmerman | December 23, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTMy grandmother lacks a high school diploma but is full of more wisdom, and more financial sense, than a lot of people I know.
Unfortunately, West Africa lacks many of the things required to make this happen.
Even the valor of tragedy is denied to Daisy, “a woman born with a voice that lacks a tragic register.”
The current Court, though, is full not of pols but of judges; only Elena Kagan lacks prior experience as a federal judge.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg Levels With Us on Why She’s Not Retiring | Jeff Greenfield | September 25, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTIt lacks convincingness perhaps from the fact that Thomass theology is so largely philosophy, as Roger Bacon said.
The Mediaeval Mind (Volume II of II) | Henry Osborn TaylorOn the other hand, if too thin the emission is comparatively easy, but lacks intensity and is termed "hollow."
Antonio Stradivari | Horace William PetherickThe interior, however, lacks interest, and the absence of stained glass gives an air of coldness.
British Highways And Byways From A Motor Car | Thomas D. MurphyThe place lies high and in the open, and lacks the lavish shade of the more protected New England villages.
Summer | Edith WhartonIt is the initiative spirit that is wanting; for, thank Heaven, it is neither the brain nor the money that lacks.
Friend Mac Donald | Max O'Rell
British Dictionary definitions for lack
/ (læk) /
an insufficiency, shortage, or absence of something required or desired
something that is required but is absent or in short supply
(when intr, often foll by in or for) to be deficient (in) or have need (of): to lack purpose
Origin of lack
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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