lack

1. noun

a lack of cash

Syn:

absence, want, need, deficiency, dearth, insufficiency, shortage, shortfall, scarcity, paucity, unavailability, deficit

Ant:

abundance

2. verb

they lack sufficient resources

Syn:

be without, be in need of, need, be lacking, require, want, be short of, be deficient in, be bereft of, be low on, be pressed for, have insufficient; informal be strapped for

Ant:

have, possess

••

lack, absence, dearth, privation, shortage, want

To suffer from a lack of food means to be partially or totally without it; to be in want of food also implies a lack, but with an emphasis on the essential or desirable nature of what is lacking; for example, you may experience a complete lack of pain following surgery, but you would be in want of medication if pain were suddenly to occur. Absence, on the other hand, refers to the complete nonexistence of something or someone. A lack of dairy products in your diet implies that you're not getting enough; an absence of dairy products implies that you're not getting any at all. If the scarcity or lack of something makes it costly, or if something is in distressingly low supply, the correct word is dearth (a dearth of water in the desert; a dearth of nylon stockings during World War II). A shortage of something is a partial insufficiency of an established, required, or accustomed amount (a shortage of fresh oranges after the late-season frost), while privation is the negative state or absence of a corresponding positive (they suffered from hunger, cold, and other privations).