lack
English
Etymology
Apparently cognate with Middle Low German lak, Middle Dutch lac (Dutch lak (“calumny”)), Old Norse lakr (“lacking”), ultimately all from Proto-Germanic *laka-.
Pronunciation
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 276: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "UK" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /lak/
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 276: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "US" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /læk/
Audio (US): (file) - Rhymes: -æk
Noun
lack (countable and uncountable, plural lacks)
- (obsolete) A defect or failing; moral or spiritual degeneracy.
- 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 1, in 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.
- A deficiency or need (of something desirable or necessary); an absence, want.
- c. 1596 William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act IV, Scene 1,[1]
- […] let his lack of years be no impediment to let him lack a reverend estimation;
- 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”, in 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.
- c. 1596 William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act IV, Scene 1,[1]
Antonyms
Translations
deficiency, need
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Verb
lack (third-person singular simple present lacks, present participle lacking, simple past and past participle lacked)
- (transitive) To be without, to need, to require.
- My life lacks excitement.
- (intransitive) To be short (of or for something).
- He'll never lack for company while he's got all that money.
- c. 1600, William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act I, Scene 4,[2]
- Hamlet. What hour now?
- Horatio. I think it lacks of twelve.
- (intransitive, obsolete) To be in want.
- 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Psalm 34.10,[3]
- The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger […]
- 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Psalm 34.10,[3]
- (obsolete) To see the deficiency in (someone or something); to find fault with, to malign, reproach.
- c. 1385, William Langland, Piers Plowman, II:
- That is Mede þe Mayde quod she · hath noyed me ful oft / And ylakked my lemman.
- c. 1385, William Langland, Piers Plowman, II:
Related terms
Translations
be without, need, require
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Anagrams
German
Pronunciation
Audio: (file)
Verb
lack
Swedish
Noun
lack n
Declension
Declension of lack | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Singular | Plural | |||
Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite | |
Nominative | lack | lacket | lacker | lackerna |
Genitive | lacks | lackets | lackers | lackernas |
Related terms
Categories:
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/æk
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English terms with quotations
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- German terms with audio links
- German non-lemma forms
- German verb forms
- German colloquialisms
- Swedish lemmas
- Swedish nouns
- Swedish neuter nouns