shortage

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noun

The condition or fact of being deficient: defect, deficiency, deficit, inadequacy, insufficiency, lack, paucity, poverty, scantiness, scantness, scarceness, scarcity, shortcoming, shortfall, underage¹. See excess/insufficiency/enough.

n

Definition: deficiency
Antonyms: abundance, ample, enough, sufficiency

A condition that exists when demand exceeds supply because of a lack of equilibrium in a market. If a price is artificially low, buyers want to buy more of a good than sellers are willing to sell. (Compare surplus.)

A situation where demand for a product or service exceeds the available supply. Possible causes of a shortage include miscalculation of demand by a company producing a good or service (i.e., the company can’t produce enough to keep up with demand) or government policies (i.e., price fixing/rationing). Natural disasters that devastate the physical landscape of a region can also cause shortages of such essential products as food and housing, also leading to higher prices of those goods.

Investopedia Says:

A government-imposed price ceiling can create a shortage. When the government does not allow the free market to dictate the price of an item based on its supply/demand, an artificially high number of people may decide to purchase that item because the price is artificially low. For example, if the government provides free doctor visits as part of a national health care plan, consumers may experience a shortage of doctor services because when people no longer have to pay directly for them, they will be likely to increase their demand for those services.

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IN BRIEF: n. - An acute insufficiency.

Part of the problem today is that we have a surplus of simple answers and a shortage of simple problems. — unknown, Source: Syracuse Herald

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For a list of words related to shortage, see:

• Economics and Economic Theory - shortage: situation in which demand for goods exceeds supply, esp. at given price
• Commerce and Trade - shortage: condition in which demand for goods exceeds available supply

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See words rhyming with "shortage."

  See crossword solutions for the clue Shortage.

Dansk (Danish)
n. - mangel, knaphed, underskud

Nederlands (Dutch)
tekort

Français (French)
n. - pénurie, manque

Deutsch (German)
n. - Mangel

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - ανεπάρκεια, έλλειψη, έλλειμμα

Italiano (Italian)
mancanza

Português (Portuguese)
n. - escassez (f)

Русский (Russian)
нехватка

Español (Spanish)
n. - déficit, escasez, falta, insuficiencia

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - brist, knapphet, underskott

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
不足, 缺乏

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 不足, 缺乏

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 부족 , 부족액, 결핍

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 不足, 不足高

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) عجز, نقص‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮מחסור, חוסר, גירעון‬

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