insufficiency

1 a lack of competence; "pointed out the insufficiencies in my report"; "juvenile offenses often reflect an inadequacy in the parents" [syn: inadequacy]

2 (pathology) inability of a bodily part or organ to function normally

3 lack of an adequate quantity or number; "the inadequacy of unemployment benefits" [syn: inadequacy, deficiency] [ant: sufficiency, sufficiency]

English

Noun

1. The lack of sufficiency; the shortage or inadequacy of.

   The troops went hungry because of the insufficiency of their supplies.

arrear, arrearage, arrears, asymmetry, baseness, contrariety, daintiness, decline, defalcation, default, defectiveness, deficiency, deficit, delicacy, delinquency, difference, diminutiveness, disability, disablement, disequilibrium, disparity, disproportion, disqualification, dissatisfactoriness, exiguity, exiguousness, failure, falling short, fewness, heterogeneity, imbalance, imbecility, imperfection, inability, inadequacy, inadmissibility, incapability, incapacitation, incapacity, incompetence, incompetency, inconsequentiality, inconsiderableness, indefensibility, inefficiency, ineptitude, inequality, inequity, infancy, inferiority, injustice, insignificance, intolerability, irregularity, legal incapacity, littleness, maladroitness, meagerness, meanness, mediocrity, minority, minuteness, moderateness, nonuniformity, objectionability, odds, overbalance, pettiness, picayunishness, puniness, scantiness, shabbiness, short measure, shortage, shortcoming, shortfall, slightness, slump, smallness, subnormality, tininess, triviality, unacceptability, unbalance, underage, undesirability, unevenness, unfair discrimination, unfitness, unimportance, unsatisfactoriness, unskillfulness, unsuitability, untenability, vulgarity, wardship