dearth
Other forms: dearths
If there is a dearth of something, there is not enough of it. A dearth of cupcakes is unfortunate, but a dearth of nutritious food is a serious problem.
Dearth is an Old English noun formed from the adjective deore, "precious, costly," and the noun-forming suffix -th. Though the relationship of dearth meaning "lack, insufficient amount" to the adjective dear is not so obvious, it is still easy to imagine that something precious is probably also in short supply. Dearth is used almost exclusively in the phrase "a dearth of."
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an insufficient quantity or numbersynonyms: paucity
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an acute insufficiency
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Vocabulary lists containing dearth
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January 16 is National Nothing Day. Mark this empty occasion by learning this list of words describing things that are absent, or missing, or never there at all. It turns out that there are lots of ways to say nothing!