insufficiency
Appearance
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From in- + sufficiency.
Pronunciation
[edit]- IPA(key): /ɪnsəˈfɪʃənsi/
Audio (General American): (file)
Noun
[edit]insufficiency (plural insufficiencies)
- The lack of sufficiency: a shortage, the state of having or being not enough (of something).
- Synonyms: lack, unsufficiency (obsolete)
- Near-synonyms: deficiency (broadly synonymous), inadequacy
- The troops went hungry because of the insufficiency of their supplies.
- 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “Chapter XXI. Lady Marchmont’s Journal.”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 160:
- She may crowd her days with gaiety, variety, and what are called amusements; she will do so only to find their insufficiency.
- 1962 October, “Beyond the Channel: Western Germany: Rhine right-bank line re-signalling”, in Modern Railways, page 276:
- On a recent trip down the Rhine many of the trains we saw were still steam-hauled, presumably through an insufficiency of electric locomotives, as yet, to deal with peak summer traffic.
Usage notes
[edit]Derived terms
[edit]Related terms
[edit]- insufficient (adjective)
Translations
[edit]the lack of sufficiency; a shortage or inadequacy
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