noun
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Etymology
Origin of shortage
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How does shortage compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
A shortage is a lack of something, especially a severe lack. A drought is a shortage of water. When there's a shortage, there's not enough of something. If you don't have enough money to pay your bills, you have a shortage of money. A bad football team may have a shortage of good players. This kind of shortage is like a deficit or shortfall. A shortage can also be a severe dearth of something, like a famine, which is a lack of food. If there's a drought because of little rainfall, that's a serious shortage.
Vocabulary lists containing shortage
World War I
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World War II
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Paltry Parlance: Synonyms for "Few"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
After Covid, and the surge in “revenge travel” that followed, Spirit’s labor costs jumped as pilots, after many years of concessions, found themselves with bargaining power amid a pilot shortage.
From Barron's • May 8, 2026
‘We are happy to supply everybody during the war, but now we’re running into a shortage of our own making.’
From MarketWatch • May 7, 2026
Holidaymakers have been urged not to change their travel plans as there is currently no fuel shortage in the UK and there are contingency plans in place.
From BBC • May 7, 2026
Chief Financial Officer Eric Christel said commodity inflation rose 4.6% in the quarter, driven in part by persistently high beef prices amid a shortage of U.S. cattle.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 6, 2026
The housing shortage continued to grow, compelling more families to push into new neighborhoods.
From "A Few Red Drops: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919" by Claire Hartfield
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
