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dearth

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dearth

  [durth]
Use dearth in a Sentence
–noun
1. an inadequate supply; scarcity; lack: There is a dearth of good engineers.
2. scarcity and dearness of food; famine.
Origin:
1200–50; ME derthe. See dear 1 , -th 1

Synonyms:
1. shortage, want, paucity, insufficiency.

Antonyms:
1. abundance, plenty, sufficiency; surplus.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To dearth
dearth   (dûrth)   
n.  

  1. A scarce supply; a lack: "the dearth of uncensored, firsthand information about the war" (Richard Zoglin).

  2. Shortage of food; famine.


[Middle English derthe, from Old English *dēorthu, costliness, from dēore, costly; see dear1.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

dearth 
c.1250, derthe "scarcity," abstract n. formed from root of O.E. deore "precious, costly" (see dear). Originally used of famines, when food was costly because scarce.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Bible Dictionary

Dearth

a scarcity of provisions (1 Kings 17). There were frequent dearths in Palestine. In the days of Abram there was a "famine in the land" (Gen. 12:10), so also in the days of Jacob (47:4, 13). We read also of dearths in the time of the judges (Ruth 1:1), and of the kings (2 Sam. 21:1; 1 Kings 18:2; 2 Kings 4:38; 8:1). In New Testament times there was an extensive famine in Palestine (Acts 11:28) in the fourth year of the reign of the emperor Claudius (A.D. 44 and 45).

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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