deficiency

n 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"

[syn: {lack}, {want}]

2: lack of an adequate quantity or number; "the inadequacy of

unemployment benefits" [syn: {insufficiency}, {inadequacy}]

[ant: {sufficiency}, {sufficiency}]