lack

CEFRB1

/læk/

noun · verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    The absence or shortage of something needed or wanted.

  2. 02

    verb

    To not have enough of something.

Examples

  • It's not the time but the will that you lack.

  • My lack of practical experience was a disadvantage.

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. A defect or failing; moral or spiritual degeneracy.

  2. To be without, not to have, to need, to require.

  3. A deficiency or need (of something desirable or necessary); an absence, want, dearth.

More examples

In context

  • You must make allowance for his lack of experience.

  • He'll never lack for company while he's got all that money.

  • His opps caught him lacking.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

There is a blank of clean water in the drought-stricken region, causing many health problems.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

From Middle English lack, lakke, lak, from Old English *læc (“deficiency, lack, want”), from Proto-West Germanic *lak, from Proto-Germanic *laką, *lakaz (“slackness”), from Proto-Germanic *lakaz (“limp, slack, loose, low”), related to *lak(k)ōną (“to blame, reproach”), from Proto-Indo-European *lok-néh₂-. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Lak (“lack”), Middle Low German lack, lak (“lack”), Dutch lak (“lack, deficiency, calumny”), Icelandic lakur (“lacking”). Related also to Middle Dutch laken (“to blame, lack”). Eclipsed non-native Middle English carence (“absence, lack”), from Old French carence.