deficiency

1 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" [syn: lack, want]

2 lack of an adequate quantity or number; "the inadequacy of unemployment benefits" [syn: insufficiency, inadequacy] [ant: sufficiency, sufficiency]

English

Noun

1. Inadequacy or incompleteness.
2. An insufficiency, especially of something essential to health.

Translations

A deficiency is a lack of something.

• In mathematics, a deficient number is a number n for which σ(n) < 2n.
• In medicine there are a variety of nutrient deficiencies:
  • Avitaminosis is a deficiency of vitamins.
  • Boron deficiency (medicine)
  • Chromium deficiency
  • Iron deficiency (medicine)
  • Iodine deficiency
  • Magnesium deficiency (medicine)
• In construction, a deficiency is an item or condition that is considered sub-standard or below minimum expectations, such as those mandated by either drawings or specifications or the building code or the fire code, and/or any combination of the foregoing. Deficiencies are routinely discussed and dealt with in construction site meetings.
• In genetics, a genetic deletion is also called a Deficiency.
• In Real estate law, a deficiency in the ability to pay off a debt is also called a deficiency judgment or deficiency judgement.

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