shortage
Not enough available
A shortage is an insufficient supply of something needed or wanted.
When demand exceeds availability, there's a shortage: a housing shortage, a shortage of skilled workers, food shortages during the war.
The word implies a gap between what exists and what's required—not complete absence, but not enough.
Insufficiency of something needed
- dearthAcute shortage of something
- paucityInsufficiency of amount
- lackDeficiency or absence
- insufficiencyShortfall in amount needed
undersupply · deficit · deficiency · inadequacy · unavailability · want · privation · meagerness
Severe food shortage
- droughtProlonged water scarcity
- crop failureWhen fields yield nothing
- harvestGathering mature crops
- irrigationArtificial water supply for agriculture
rainfall · hunger · starvation · food insecurity · subsistence · grain reserves · livestock · yield
Plan for spending
- underfundingInadequate monetary allocation
- cutbacksReductions in spending
- fiscalOf public revenue
- recessionProlonged economic decline
inflation · deficit · debt · insolvency · losses · liabilities · overspending · unemployment
scarcity
Insufficiency of something needed
insufficiency · undersupply · deficit · deficiency · inadequacy · unavailability · want · privation · meagerness · sparsity
famine
Severe food shortage
- droughtProlonged water scarcity
- crop failureWhen fields yield nothing
- harvestGathering mature crops
irrigation · rainfall · hunger · starvation · food insecurity · subsistence · grain reserves · livestock · yield · blight
budget
Plan for spending
- underfundingInadequate monetary allocation
- cutbacksReductions in spending
- fiscalOf public revenue
recession · inflation · deficit · debt · insolvency · losses · liabilities · overspending · unemployment · downturn
crisis
Decisive dangerous moment
- emergencySerious sudden danger
- panicUncontrollable sudden fear
- rationingLimiting distribution during scarcity
hoarding · stockpiling · disruption · turmoil · upheaval · chaos · alarm · hardship · distress · deprivation
water
Clear essential liquid
labor · housing · medicine · supplies · commodities · materials · inventory · stock · provisions · essentials
- economyGDP, money, inflation, inflation rate, GNP
- pharmacypharmacist, pharmacy, prescription, dispensing, prescriptions
- deprivationlack, deprivation, need, want, deficiency
- food supplyprovisions, farming, rations, fishing, stockpile
- Scarcity & Valuerare, scarce, costly, pricey, expensive
- limited availabilityonly choice, sold out, out of stock, deficit, unavailable
- water shortageInsufficient supply of water
- housing shortageLack of available dwellings
- food shortagesInsufficient supply of nourishment
- labor shortageInsufficient workforce supply
- gas shortageInsufficient petroleum supply
- oil shortageInsufficient petroleum supply