LACK

lack, deficiency, want

(noun) 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”

miss, lack

(verb) be without; “This soup lacks salt”; “There is something missing in my jewelry box!”

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Noun

lack (countable and uncountable, plural lacks)

(obsolete) A defect or failing; moral or spiritual degeneracy.

A deficiency or need (of something desirable or necessary); an absence, want.

Antonyms

• glut

• surplus

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.

(intransitive) To be short (of or for something).

(intransitive, obsolete) To be in want.

(obsolete) To see the deficiency in (someone or something); to find fault with, to malign, reproach.

Anagrams

• calk, kcal

Source: Wiktionary


Lack, n. Etym: [OE. lak; cf. D. lak slander, laken to blame, OHG. lahan, AS. leán.]

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.

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.

2. To be without or destitute of; to want; to need. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God. James i. 5.

Lack, v. i.

1. To be wanting; often, impersonally, with of, meaning, to be less than, short, not quite, etc. What hour now I think it lacks of twelve. Shak. Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty. Gen. xvii. 28.

2. To be in want. The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger. Ps. xxxiv. 10.

Lack, interj. Etym: [Cf. Alack.]

Definition: Exclamation of regret or surprise. [Prov. Eng.] Cowper.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



RESET



Word of the Day

22 November 2024

SHEET

(noun) (nautical) a line (rope or chain) that regulates the angle at which a sail is set in relation to the wind


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