resource shortage

Not enough materials

A resource shortage is a situation where demand for something exceeds its available supply—whether materials, labor, energy, or time.

Shortages may be absolute (the resource is genuinely depleted) or relative (it exists but isn't accessible or affordable): The chip shortage disrupted car manufacturing.

Resource shortages often trigger rationing, price increases, or substitution with alternatives.

Related

rationing · famine · drought · crisis · hoarding · demand · supply · bottleneck · allocation · emergency · rations · running low · running on empty · empty shelves · panic buying · scrabbling · bare · bare bones

Categories
Opposites
quantity/availability

resource shortageabundance

Ample supply, overflowing

surplus · plenty · oversupply · glut · plethora

economic/supply condition

resource shortageoversupply

Excess beyond demand

surplus · overproduction · overabundance · stockpile · resource boom

systemic state

resource shortagesufficiency

State of being enough

prosperity · affluence · plenitude · adequacy · saturation

Family

resource, shortage, resources, resourced, resourceful, resourcefulness, resourceless, resourcing, short

Familiarity
Top 500,000
Profile
Used worldwide · Timeless · Negative · Everyday, not technical · Rated G