dearth

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“
Such a dearth was there of these latter articles, that anything, even a little child's story-book, or the half of a shipping calendar, appeared like a treasure.

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Definitions (10)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. noun A scarce supply; a lack: "the dearth of uncensored, firsthand information about the war” (Richard Zoglin).
  2. noun Shortage of food; famine.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (5)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (2)

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Examples (50)

  • Demographic dearth is the root cause of the economic crisis. —  Asia Times Online
  • Amidst improbable promises of future messianic wonders, he admitted that the likely and immediate prospect was one of debt, dearth, and government inflicted discipline. —  Latest Articles
  • This stimulated further production, and tended to avert from Van Diemen's Land the distress, which over speculation and scarcity produced in New South Wales This dearth was followed by two plentiful harvests (1831), and a depression of price. —  The History of Tasmania, Volume I
  • Such a dearth was there of these latter articles, that anything, even a little child's story-book, or the half of a shipping calendar, appeared like a treasure. —  Two Years Before the Mast
  • It was the time of plenty, and, during its seven years, I tried to lay up as much as I could for the dearth which was to follow it. —  Apologia Pro Vita Sua
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Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English derthe, from Old English *dēorthu, costliness, from dēore, costly; see dear1.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Middle English derth, derthe, scarcity, preciousness (not in Anglo-Saxon) (= Old Saxon diurida = Old High German tiurida, Middle High German tiurde, tūrde = Icelandic dy¯rth); from dear + -th, formative of abstract nouns.
  2. from dearth, n.
 

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/dərθ/
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