lack

lack
/lak/, n.
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.
v.t.
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.
v.i.
5. to be absent or missing, as something needed or desirable: Three votes are lacking to make a majority.
6. lack in, to be short of or deficient in: What he lacks in brains, he makes up for in brawn.
[1125-75; ME lak; c. MLG lak, MD lac deficiency; akin to ON lakr deficient]
Syn. 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.
Ant. 1. surplus.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Lack — Lack …   Deutsch Wörterbuch

  • lack — vb Lack, want, need, require are comparable when meaning to be without something, especially something essential or greatly to be desired. Lack may imply either an absence or a shortage in the supply or amount of that something {the house lacks a …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • lack — I verb be bereft of, be deficient, be deprived of, be desirous, be destitute, be in need, be in want, be inadequate, be inferior, be insufficient, be needy, be poor, be wanting, be without, crave, desiderate, desire, fall short, feel a dearth,… …   Law dictionary

  • lack — ⇒LACK, subst. masc. Vieilli. Unité de compte en Perse et en Inde. Lack de roupies. Cent mille roupies. Le riche nabab qui (...) rêve au monceau d or de ses lacks de roupies (COPPÉE, Poés., t. 2, 1883, p. 244). Prononc. et Orth. : [lak]. Att. ds… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Lack — [lak], der; [e]s, e: [farbloses] flüssiges Gemisch, mit dem z. B. Möbel angestrichen werden und das nach dem Trocknen einen glänzenden Überzug bildet: farbloser, roter, schnell trocknender Lack; der Lack springt ab, blättert ab, bekommt Risse. *… …   Universal-Lexikon

  • lack — Ⅰ. lack UK US /læk/ noun [S or U] ► a situation in which there is not enough of something, or something is not available: serious/severe lack of sth »Many of these communities are having to cope with a severe lack of resources. » Lack of time is… …   Financial and business terms

  • lack — verb. The use with for meaning ‘to be short of something’ in negative contexts seems to have originated in the 19c: • If you are inclined to undertake the search, I have so provided that you will not lack for means Rider Haggard, 1887 • Here s… …   Modern English usage

  • Lack — (l[a^]k), 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. [1913 Webster] 2. Deficiency; want; need; destitution; failure; as, a lack of sufficient food.… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Lack — Lack, v. i. 1. To be wanting; often, impersonally, with of, meaning, to be less than, short, not quite, etc. [1913 Webster] What hour now? I think it lacks of twelve. Shak. [1913 Webster] Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty. Gen. xvii …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Lack — Sm std. (16. Jh.) Entlehnung. Entlehnt aus it. lacca f., das über arab. lakk und pers. lāk auf pāli lākhā f. zurückgeht. Dieses aus ai. lākṣā f. Lack , das wohl zu ai. rájyati färbt sich, rötet sich gehört, also eigentlich (rote) Färbung . Der… …   Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen sprache

  • Lack — Lack, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Lacked} (l[a^]kt); p. pr. & vb. n. {Lacking}.] 1. To blame; to find fault with. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] Love them and lakke them not. Piers Plowman. [1913 Webster] 2. To be without or destitute of; to want; to need. [1913 …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

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