Deficiency Meaning
/dɪˈfɪʃənsi/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounInadequacy or incompleteness.
nounAn insufficiency, especially of something essential to health.
Sentence Examples
Body temperature rising, pulse rising ... he's in a state of oxygen deficiency.
AIDS means "Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome".
Vitamin deficiency in the diet can cause illness.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
CEFR Practice Quiz
A vitamin D ____ can cause weak bones and fatigue in adults.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Body temperature rising, pulse rising ... he's in a state of oxygen ____.
Word Origin & History
From deficient + -cy. Compare Latin dēficientia.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The face which emerged was not reassuring.[…]. He was not a mongol but there was a deficiency of a sort there, and it was not made more pretty by a latter-day hair cut which involved eccentrically long elf-locks and oiled black curls."
— 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 17, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
"One of academia’s deficiencies is that, though its lecture halls and graduate schools are replete with women, its higher echelons are not. Often, this is seen as a phenomenon specific to the sciences. … In fact, the disparity applies to the whole grove. Another report from 2006, by the American Association of University Professors, found the same ratio in the faculties of arts, humanities and social science, too."
— 2013 August 31, “Promotion and self-promotion”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8851:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
A vitamin D ____ can cause weak bones and fatigue in adults.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Body temperature rising, pulse rising ... he's in a state of oxygen ____.