lack

See also: Lack

English

Etymology

Apparently cognate with Middle Low German lak, Middle Dutch lac ( > modern lak (“calumny”)).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /lak/
• (US) IPA^(key): /læk/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æk

Noun

lack (plural lacks)

1. (obsolete) A defect or failing; moral or spiritual degeneracy.
   • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 1, The Celebrity:

     In the old days, to my commonplace and unobserving mind, he gave no evidences of genius whatsoever. He never read me any of his manuscripts, […], and therefore my lack of detection of his promise may in some degree be pardoned.

2. A deficiency or need (of something desirable or necessary); an absence, want.
   • Shakespeare

     Let his lack of years be no impediment.

   • 1994, Green Day, Basket Case

     I went to a shrink, to analyze my dreams. He said it's lack of sex that's bringing me down.

   • 2012 September 7, Phil McNulty, “Moldova 0-5 England”, BBC Sport:

     If Moldova harboured even the slightest hopes of pulling off a comeback that would have bordered on miraculous given their lack of quality, they were snuffed out 13 minutes before the break when Oxlade-Chamberlain picked his way through midfield before releasing Defoe for a finish that should have been dealt with more convincingly by Namasco at his near post.

Antonyms

• glut
• surplus

Translations

deficiency, need

• Arabic: نقص m (naqṣ), عدم وجود m (ʿadam wujūd)
• Armenian: պակաս (pakas)
• Bulgarian: нужда (bg) f (núžda), липса (bg) f (lípsa)
• Catalan: falta f, manca f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 不足 (zh) (bùzú)

• Czech: nedostatek (cs) m
• Dutch: gebrek (nl) n
• Esperanto: manko
• Finnish: puute (fi), vajaus, vaje
• French: manque (fr) m, défaut (fr) m
• German: Mangel (de) m
• Hindi: कमी f (kamī)
• Hungarian: hiány (hu)
• Icelandic: skortur (is) m

• Irish: uireasa f
• Italian: mancanza (it) f
• Japanese: 不足 (ja) (ふそく, fusoku)
• Latin: pēnūria f
• Norwegian: mangel (no) m
• Ottoman Turkish: فقدان (fıkdân)
• Portuguese: falta (pt) f, carência (pt) f, deficiência (pt) f
• Romanian: lipsă (de) (ro) f
• Russian: отсутствие (ru) n (otsútstvije), нехватка (ru) f (nexvátka), недостаток (ru) m (nedostátok), нужда (ru) f (nuždá) (need)
• Scottish Gaelic: cion m, gainne f, gainnead m, easbhaidh f
• Spanish: falta (es) f, carencia (es) f
• Swedish: avsaknad (sv) c, brist (sv) c
• Turkish: , eksiklik (tr), yokluk (tr), yoksunluk (tr)
• Urdu: کمی f (kamī)

Verb

lack (third-person singular simple present lacks, present participle lacking, simple past and past participle lacked)

1. (transitive) To be without, to need, to require.

   My life lacks excitement.

2. (intransitive) To be short (of or for something).

   He'll never lack for company while he's got all that money.

   • Shakespeare

     What hour now? I think it lacks of twelve.

3. (intransitive) To be in want.
   • Bible, Psalms xxxiv. 10

     The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger.

Translations

be without, need, require

• Catalan: faltar (ca), mancar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 缺 (zh) (quē), 欠 (zh) (qiàn), 缺乏 (zh) (quēfá)

• Czech: postrádat
• Dutch: derven (nl), ontberen (nl), missen (nl), (aan) gebrek hebben
• Finnish: puuttua (fi)
• French: manquer (fr)
• German: mangeln (de), fehlen (de), (transitive, dated) entbehren (de) m
• Haitian Creole: manke
• Hungarian: nélkülöz (hu)
• Icelandic: skorta
• Italian: mancare (it)

• Japanese: 欠ける (ja) (かける, kakeru) (intransitive), 欠く (ja) (かく, kaku) (transitive)
• Latin: desum (la), egeo, careo, desidero
• Norwegian: mangle (no)
• Portuguese: faltar (pt), carecer (pt)
• Russian: отсутствовать (ru) (otsútstvovat')
• Spanish: faltar (es), carecer (es)
• Swedish: sakna (sv), fattas (sv)
• Turkish: yoksun olmak (tr)
• Vietnamese: thiếu (vi)
• Welsh: yn eisiau
• Yup'ik: (noun-to-verb postbase meaning "to lack N.") -ngite

Related terms

• lackluster

Anagrams

• calk

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Swedish

Noun

lack n

1. lacquer

Declension

Declension of lack

Related terms

• klarlack
• lacknafta
• lackskor
• nagellack