shortage
Other forms: shortages
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.
Definitions of shortage
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the property of being an amount by which something is less than expected or required
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types:
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oxygen deficit
temporary oxygen shortage in cells resulting from strenuous exercise
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type of:
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deficiency, inadequacy, insufficiency
lack of an adequate quantity or number
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oxygen deficit
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an acute insufficiency
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type of:
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deficiency, lack, want
the state of needing something that is absent or unavailable
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deficiency, lack, want
Pronunciation
US
/ˈʃɔrdɪdʒ/
UK
/ˈʃɔtɪdʒ/
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DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘shortage'.
Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors.
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