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Synonyms

deficiency

American  
[dih-fish-uhn-see] / dɪˈfɪʃ ən si /
Obsolete, deficience

noun

plural

deficiencies

  1. the state of being deficient; lack; incompleteness; insufficiency.

    Synonyms:
    scarcity, paucity, inadequacy, shortage

  2. the amount lacked; a deficit.

deficiency British  
/ dɪˈfɪʃənsɪ /

noun

  1. the state or quality of being deficient

  2. a lack or insufficiency; shortage

  3. another word for deficit

  4. biology the absence of a gene or a region of a chromosome normally present

"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

Other Word Forms

  • nondeficiency noun
  • predeficiency noun

Etymology

Origin of deficiency

First recorded in 1625–35; from Late Latin dēficientia, Latin dēficient- (stem of dēficiēns ); deficient, -ency

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.