Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Inadequacy or insufficiency.
- noun A deficiency or impairment in mental or physical functioning.
- noun The amount by which a sum of money falls short of the required or expected amount; a shortage.
- noun A business loss.
- noun An amount that quantifies an unfavorable condition or position.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A failure or falling off in amount; specifically, a financial deficiency: as, a deficit in the taxes or revenue.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Deficiency in amount or quality; a falling short; lack
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Deficiency in amount or quality; a falling short; lack.
- noun A situation wherein, or amount whereby, spending exceeds government revenue.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun an excess of liabilities over assets (usually over a certain period)
- noun (sports) the score by which a team or individual is losing
- noun the property of being an amount by which something is less than expected or required
- noun a deficiency or failure in neurological or mental functioning
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word deficit.
Examples
-
Lonely, because some progressives think the term deficit hawk is a pejorative, and many deficit hawks think progressives aren't serious.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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
-
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
-
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.
-
As Matthew says @147 “the deficit is the symptom rather than the cause.”
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.