deficient

Not having enough of something that is needed.

• Her diet is deficient in iron.
• The soil was deficient in essential minerals.
• The report was deficient in useful detail.

How to use it: deficient in something (These foods are deficient in protein.)

Similar words: lacking

Common phrases: deficient in iron, deficient in vitamins, deficient in skills

Too small in amount to meet a need or reach a required level.

• Rainfall was deficient that year.
• A deficient water supply limited crop growth.
• The project failed because its funding was deficient.

Similar words: insufficient, inadequate

Opposites: sufficient, adequate

Common phrases: deficient supply, deficient rainfall, deficient quantity

Having positive divisors other than itself whose total is smaller than the number.

• Eight is a deficient number.
• Every prime number is deficient.
• The class compared deficient, perfect, and abundant numbers.

Opposites: abundant

Common phrases: deficient number, deficient integer