Dearth
[dɜːθ]
Definition
(noun.) an insufficient quantity or number.
(noun.) an acute insufficiency.
Checker: Rowena--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) Scarcity which renders dear; want; lack; specifically, lack of food on account of failure of crops; famine.
Checker: Yale
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. [1]. Scarcity, insufficiency, deficiency, short supply.[2]. Need, want, lack, famine, short commons.
Typist: Merritt
Synonyms and Antonyms
[See ABUNDANCE]
Typed by Doreen
Definition
n. dearness high price: scarcity: want: famine; barrenness.—adj. Dearth′ful (Scot.) expensive.
Checker: Truman
Examples
- The drought in Bengal, a few years ago, might probably have occasioned a very great dearth. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- His letters, in the dearth of scientific associations and the absence of scientific periodicals, served as a general news agency among the learned of his time. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- Two canine animals, in a time of dearth, may be truly said to struggle with each other which shall get food and live. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
- But in the days of the Civil War there was a great dearth of skilful manipulators of the key. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- Both countries, accordingly, though subject occasionally to dearths, have been famous for their great fertility. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
Checker: Mollie