Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Inadequacy or insufficiency: a deficit in grain production.
- n. A deficiency or impairment in mental or physical functioning.
- n. An unfavorable condition or position; a disadvantage: rallied from a three-game deficit to win the playoffs.
- n. The amount by which a sum of money falls short of the required or expected amount; a shortage: large budget deficits.
- n. A business loss.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A failure or falling off in amount; specifically, a financial deficiency: as, a deficit in the taxes or revenue.
Wiktionary
- n. Deficiency in amount or quality; a falling short; lack.
- n. A situation wherein, or amount whereby, spending exceeds government revenue.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Deficiency in amount or quality; a falling short; lack.
WordNet 3.0
- n. an excess of liabilities over assets (usually over a certain period)
- n. (sports) the score by which a team or individual is losing
- n. the property of being an amount by which something is less than expected or required
- n. a deficiency or failure in neurological or mental functioning
Etymologies
- From French déficit, from Latin dēficit. (Wiktionary)
- French déficit, from Latin dēficit, it is lacking, third person sing. present tense of dēficere, to fail, be lacking; see defect. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Lonely, because some progressives think the term deficit hawk is a pejorative, and many deficit hawks think progressives aren't serious.”
The Washington Post: The liberal case for cutting domestic spending
“If Marr had used the term deficit, you would be correct, but there is a big difference between the deficit and the debt.”
“If being in deficit is "broke," Bush has already bankrupted the general fund by your logic.”
“Our pension plan, instead of being in deficit, is actuarially balanced for the next 75 years.”
“The long-term deficit is driven by the aging of the population as well as by growing health-care costs, both contributing to Social Security and Medicare expenses.”
The Washington Post is now worried about Democratic tax plans. - Moe_Lane’s blog - RedState
“So it goes in Campaign 2010, where cutting the deficit is a big issue, but where support for doing some of the hard things to achieve that is running into politics as usual.”
The Wall Street Journal: Push to Cut Deficit Collides With Politics as Usual
“As Matthew says @147 “the deficit is the symptom rather than the cause.””
“But the deficit is the symptom rather than the cause.”
“In economic terms of course a deficit is a deficit, whether primary or otherwise, but to get from Point A to Point B we need to pass through some measurable intermediate stages.”
“Given that most of the long-term deficit is due to Medicare, has either political party come up with a credible solution?”
Economists as Heretics, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘deficit’.
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POL - scandalous (single words only)
acolyte, archrival, backhander, backlash, baksheesh, bashing, boo, bribery, cadre, chicanery, clash, coercion and 256 more...
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BUDG - general terms
Budgetese - not a sexy topic but a very comprehensive list of words and collocations used in EU circles. Budgeting experts please comment and expand.
heading, across-the-board ..., emergency reserve, frontload, mopping-up, performance reserve, positive margin, negative margin, public finances, structural operat..., administrative ex..., management of EU ... and 657 more...
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EU Buzz - ALL words and expressions
A combined list of
1. EU Buzz - single words
2. EU Buzz - collocations
3. EU Buzz - the 100 most active
collocation constituentsabsorption capacity, absorption rate, acceding country, accession candidate, accession countries, accession country, accession criteria, accession cycle, accession negotia..., accession partner..., accession priorities, accession treaty and 2650 more...
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POL - presidential debates
Some of the catchwords of several presidential debates (Obama-Romney 2012 Denver debate's transcript fully included)
autistic, skyrocket, enroll, taxing, decamp, Depression, niceness, cutback, revenue, fend for, empathy, uninsured and 150 more...
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Headlines & Newsmakers
frugality, environment, extinction, bible, killer, jazz, cloning, dead, god, moon, global warming, bailout and 340 more...
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POL - scandalous (words and collocati...
Words and collocations associated with political scandal
blow the whistle, boo, cronyism and rigging, democratic deficit, denigrate, dirty linen, fiasco, finger pointing a..., graft, hidden account, hush money, illicit financing... and 578 more...
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EU Buzz - Lisbon Treaty
All words of the Lisbon Treaty
(Persons' names, foreign and grammatical words have been eliminated, MWEs have been split up into individual words. Capitalization has been retained if r...health, follow, condition, meeting, minister, beginning, chapter, information, language, remain, covered, respect and 2614 more...
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EU Buzz - single words (1+2+3)
1. Strictly EU terms with special European meaning used only in the EU
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2. Keywords central to the understanding of the EU (people working for the EU are usually able to give thematic...acceleration, action, additionality, administrator, agenda, agricultural, agri-environmental, agriflation, agri-food, applicant, approach, assent and 1325 more...
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Economists do it with models
arbitrage, behaviour, capital, dromography, embargo, fiscal, globalisation, hyperinflation, incentive, j-curve, keynesian, labour and 143 more...
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National Library Agenda Summit
nla2006, summit, agenda, library, ala, diversity, education, learning, continuous, scan, environmental, plan and 646 more...
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Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
a, abandon, ability, able, abortion, about, above, abroad, absence, absolute, absolutely, absorb and 4334 more...
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my dictionary
able, abnormally, abroad, absent, abstract, acceptable, acceptance, access, accessible, accession, according to, account and 4551 more...
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Annsley's list
churlish, bibulous, salt, salty, conjugal, fabulist, maw, primordial, chimera, emetic, surly, excrescence and 228 more...
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Aeonn's Words
discombobulation, dank, crass, abolishment, quite, ubiquitous, crank, catapult, sponge, click, queer, irish and 124 more...
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me + student loans =
You know that feeling when you open your wallet and all you can find inside are ATM receipts?
When being a squatter is the least of your worries and that thing called dignity is shove...destitution, beggary, impecuniosity, indigence, mendicancy, poor, impoverishment, pauperism, pennilessness, penuriousness, penury, poverty and 168 more...
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SAT Words That Mean 'Scarce or Poor'
A list of SAT words that mean 'scarce or poor.' Based on Gruber's SAT Word Master word list. Categorizing words by meaning can help you to memorize more effectively.
dearth, deficit, destitute, exiguous, impecunious, impoverished, indigent, insolvent, meager, paltry, paucity, penurious and 3 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for deficit.

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