understaffed

adjective un·der·staffed \ ˌən-dər-ˈstaft \

|Updated on: 13 Aug 2018

Definition of understaffed

: inadequately staffed

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understaffing

play \ˌən-dər-ˈsta-fiŋ\ noun

See understaffed defined for English-language learners

Recent Examples of understaffed from the Web

The move, in the works for more than a year, has been fully implemented this summer and has the understaffed warden force scrambling.

— paul a. smith, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Wisconsin warden shortage and changes in responsibilities raise concerns," 14 July 2018
New hires are getting $2,000 signing bonuses at some prisons and some officers are temporarily receiving an extra $1 an hour at the most understaffed prisons.

— patrick marley, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "GOP leaders say wage increases not on table despite Wisconsin prison overtime costs, staffing shortage," 12 July 2018
One Los Angeles Times article published Thursday reports that these shelters are understaffed and unequipped to handle the thousands of unaccompanied children who will be filling them.

— anne branigin, The Root, "We’ve Been Here Before: A Psychologist Calls Out the Horrifying Familiarity of America’s Treatment of Migrant Children," 15 June 2018
To start, the Federal Election Commission remains understaffed at the highest levels.

— gregory krieg, CNN, "Legal? Yes. Ethical? Meh. Our flimsy campaign finance and lobbying laws," 14 May 2018
John Coffee, a professor at Columbia Law School, discusses a new round of nominations for the SEC, which has been understaffed for months.

— Bloomberg.com, "President Trump Nominates First Set of SEC Nominees (Audio)," 18 Sep. 2017
But in an overcrowded, understaffed area housing thousands, one case could easily spread and cause widespread health problems.

— angela chen, The Verge, "Detained immigrant comes down with chickenpox days after prison staff said there weren’t enough doctors," 20 June 2018
Meanwhile, lawmakers have complained in public that ONDCP is understaffed, was late in delivering a draft of its reauthorization bill to Capitol Hill, and, most importantly, has yet to release a national drug strategy.

— lev facher, STAT, "Empty desks, squabbles, inexperienced staff: Exactly who is coordinating White House drug policy?," 18 June 2018
The nurses felt that management was leaving their hospital understaffed, and that their new overseers had no time for their input.

— noam scheiber, New York Times, "When Professionals Rise Up, More Than Money Is at Stake," 25 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'understaffed.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.