lack - Definitions from Dictionary.com

10 results for: lack

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

lack

–noun

1.	deficiency or absence of something needed, desirable, or customary: lack of money; lack of skill.

2.	something missing or needed: After he left, they really felt the lack.

–verb (used with object)

3.	to be without or deficient in: to lack ability; to lack the necessities of life.

4.	to fall short in respect of: He lacks three votes to win.

–verb (used without object)

5.	to be absent or missing, as something needed or desirable: Three votes are lacking to make a majority.

—Verb phrase

6.	lack in, to be short of or deficient in: What he lacks in brains, he makes up for in brawn.

[Origin: 1125–75; ME lak; c. MLG lak, MD lac deficiency; akin to ON lakr deficient

]

—Synonyms 1. dearth, scarcity, paucity, deficit, insufficiency. 1, 3. want, need. 3. Lack, want, need, require as verbs all stress the absence of something desirable, important, or necessary. Lack means to be without or to have less than a desirable quantity of something: to lack courage, sufficient money, enough members to make a quorum. Want may imply some urgency in fulfilling a requirement or a desire: Willing workers are badly wanted. The room wants some final touch to make it homey. Need often suggests even more urgency than does want stressing the necessity of supplying what is lacking: to need an operation, better food, a match to light the fire. Require, which expresses necessity as strongly as need, occurs most frequently in serious or formal contexts: Your presence at the hearing is required. Successful experimentation requires careful attention to detail.

—Antonyms 1. surplus.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
lack

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

lack Audio Help (lāk) Pronunciation Key
n.

Deficiency or absence: Lack of funding brought the project to a halt.
A particular deficiency or absence: Owing to a lack of supporters, the reforms did not succeed.

v.   lacked, lack·ing, lacks

v.   tr.
To be without or in need of: lacked the strength to lift the box.

v.   intr.

To be missing or deficient: We suspected that he was lying, but proof was lacking.
To be in need of something: She does not lack for friends.

[Middle English, perhaps from Middle Dutch lac, deficiency, fault.]

Synonyms: These verbs mean to be without something, especially something that is necessary or desirable. Lack emphasizes the absence of something: She lacks the money to buy new shoes. The plant died because it lacked moisture.
Want and need stress the urgent necessity for filling a void or remedying an inadequacy: "Her pens were uniformly bad and wanted fixing" (Bret Harte). The garden needs care.

Usage Note: When lack is used intransitively, the present participle is generally followed by in: You will not be lacking in support from me. Other forms of the intransitive verb are most often followed by for: In the terrible, beautiful age of my prime,/I lacked for sweet linen but never for time (E.B. White).

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
lack (n.)

c.1200, may have existed as unrecorded O.E. *lac, or been borrowed from M.Du. lak "deficiency, fault," from P.Gmc. *laka- (cf. O.N. lakr "lacking"). The verb is attested earlier, c.1175, but is considered to be from the noun. Lackluster first attested 1600 in "As You Like It." Combinations with lack- were frequent in 16c., e.g. lackland (1594), of a landless man; lack-Latin (c.1534), of an ignorant priest.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

lack
noun
1.	the state of needing something that is absent or unavailable; "there is a serious lack of insight into the problem"; "water is the critical deficiency in desert regions"; "for want of a nail the shoe was lost"
verb
1.	be without; "This soup lacks salt"; "There is something missing in my jewelry box!" [syn: miss] [ant: feature]

Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
lack [lӕk] verb

to have too little or none of
Example: He lacked the courage to join the army.

Arabic:	يَنْقُص
Chinese (Simplified):	缺乏
Chinese (Traditional):	缺乏
Czech:	nemít
Danish:	mangle
Dutch:	missen
Estonian:	ilma olema
Finnish:	olla vailla
French:	manquer de qqch.
German:	fehlen
Greek:	στερούμαι, μου λείπει
Hungarian:	hiányzik
Icelandic:	skorta
Indonesian:	kurang
Italian:	mancare di*

Japanese:	～がない
Korean:	결핍되다
Latvian:	trūkt; nepietikt
Lithuanian:	neturėti, stokoti
Norwegian:	mangle, savne
Polish:	nie posiadać
Portuguese (Brazil):	ter falta de
Portuguese (Portugal):	faltar a
Romanian:	a-i lipsi, a nu avea
Russian:	не хватать
Slovak:	nemať
Slovenian:	imeti premalo
Spanish:	carecer de
Swedish:	sakna
Turkish:	…-i olmamak

lack [lӕk] noun

the state of not having any or enough
Example: our lack of money

Arabic:	فُقْدان ، نَقْص
Chinese (Simplified):	没有
Chinese (Traditional):	沒有, 缺乏
Czech:	nedostatek
Danish:	mangel
Dutch:	gebrek
Estonian:	puudus
Finnish:	puute
French:	manque
German:	der Mangel
Greek:	έλλειψη
Hungarian:	hiány
Icelandic:	skortur
Indonesian:	kekurangan
Italian:	mancanza

Japanese:	欠乏
Korean:	결핍
Latvian:	trūkums; nepietiekamība
Lithuanian:	stoka, stygius
Norwegian:	mangel
Polish:	brak
Portuguese (Brazil):	falta
Portuguese (Portugal):	falta
Romanian:	lipsă
Russian:	нехватка; отсутствие
Slovak:	nedostatok
Slovenian:	pomanjkanje
Spanish:	falta, carencia, escasez
Swedish:	brist
Turkish:	olmayış, yokluk

See also: be lacking

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Lack

A*lack"\, interj. [Prob. from ah! lack! OE. lak loss, failure, misfortune. See Lack.] An exclamation expressive of sorrow. [Archaic. or Poet.] --Shak.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

lack

Lac\, Lakh \Lakh\, n. [Hind. lak, l[=a]kh, l[=a]ksh, Skr. laksha a mark, sign, lakh.] One hundred thousand; also, a vaguely great number; as, a lac of rupees. [Written also lack.] [East Indies]

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Lack

Lack\, n. [OE. lak; cf. D. lak slander, laken to blame, OHG. lahan, AS. le['a]n.]

1. Blame; cause of blame; fault; crime; offense. [Obs.] --Chaucer.

2. Deficiency; want; need; destitution; failure; as, a lack of sufficient food.

She swooneth now and now for lakke of blood. --Chaucer.

Let his lack of years be no impediment. --Shak.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Lack

Lack\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Lacked; p. pr. & vb. n. Lacking.]

1. To blame; to find fault with. [Obs.]

Love them and lakke them not. --Piers Plowman.