English Explanatory Dictionary

lack

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A deficiency or need (of something desirable or necessary); an absence, want, dearth.
  2. A defect or failing; moral or spiritual degeneracy.
verb
  1. To be without, not to have, to need, to require.
  2. To be short (of or for something).
  3. To be in want.
  4. To see the deficiency in (someone or something); to find fault with, to malign, reproach.
  5. To be off one's guard.
noun
  1. Archaic form of lakh.

Pronunciation

/læk/ En-us-lack.ogg LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-lack.wav

Word forms

lack lacks lacking lacked

Etymology

From Middle English lack, lakke, lak, from Old English *læc (“deficiency, lack, want”), from Proto-West Germanic *lak, from Proto-Germanic *laką, *lakaz (“slackness”), from Proto-Germanic *lakaz (“limp, slack, loose, low”), related to *lak(k)ōną (“to blame, reproach”), from Proto-Indo-European *lok-néh₂-. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Lak (“lack”), Middle Low German lack, lak (“lack”), Dutch lak (“lack, deficiency, calumny”), Icelandic lakur (“lacking”). Related also to Middle Dutch laken (“to blame, lack”). Eclipsed non-native Middle English carence (“absence, lack”), from Old French carence.

Synonyms

dearth deficiency deficit dejection inadequacy infrequency insufficiency meagerness nonsufficiency lack paucity penury rareness rarity scantiness scarcity shortage shortcoming unsufficiency want

Antonyms

adequacy excess glut surplus plethora

Related words

abundant lackluster good lack

Derived words

for lack of for lack of trying lackless lack of sleep alack lack-all lackbrain lack-grace lackland lack-latin lack-laughter lack-learning lack-life lack-linen lack-looks lack-love lacklustre lack-mind lack-pity lackstock lackwit
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