Synonyms of shortage

shortage

noun

ˈshȯr-tij 

as in lack

a falling short of an essential or desirable amount or number

there was a troubling shortage of supplies for the troops overseas this year

Synonyms & Similar Words

• lack
• deficiency
• scarcity
• deficit
• absence
• paucity
• drought
• dearth
• famine
• insufficiency
• poverty
• inadequacy
• undersupply
• crunch
• lacuna
• failure
• scantiness
• pinch
• scarceness
• inadequateness
• omission
• want
• necessity
• need
• privation
• meagerness
• skimpiness
• poorness

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• abundance
• plenty
• wealth
• adequacy
• sufficiency
• amplitude
• opulence
• plenitude
• surplus
• excess
• oversupply
• overabundance
• surfeit
• copiousness
• bountifulness

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of shortage

Despite China’s efforts to boost semiconductor self-sufficiency, domestic tech firms’ immense demand for compute has led to a shortage, prompting them to ramp up imports. — Brendan Ruberry, semafor.com, 5 Nov. 2026

She is being charged with guiding HP through the challenges of the memory shortage. — Jim Cramer, CNBC, 5 Nov. 2026

What surprised me then, and still does, is that the problem was never a shortage of intelligence or its accuracy. — Jonathan Stewart, Forbes.com, 5 Nov. 2026

The movement grew from a student protest over staff shortages at the Antoine de Saint-Exupéry High School in Créteil, a southeastern suburb of Paris. — Zacharie Petit, NBC news, 5 Nov. 2026