deficit Hear it!

deficit Definition

defi·cit (def′ə sit)

noun

the amount by which a sum of money is less than the required amount; specif., an excess of liabilities over assets, of losses over profits, or of expenditure over income

Etymology: L, there is lacking, 3d pers. sing., pres. indic., of deficere (see deficiency): from use as first word in inventory clauses

deficit Synonyms

deficit

n.

shortage, paucity, deficiency, shortfall; see debt 1, lack 2.

deficit Finance Definition
  1. A budget in which expenses are greater than income. Money must be borrowed to make up the shortfall or assets must be sold.
  2. A situation in which liabilities exceed assets.
deficit Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • overturn: Reading bettered this comeback on Sunday, overturning a 2-0 half time deficit, to overcome Germany's Club an der Alster 4-3.
  • accumulate: Spain has an accumulated deficit of 10 % of their total health budget.
  • halve: This pledge of the Bush junta to ' halve the deficit ' worries me.
  • overcome: Today, he turned back Stewart once again in the Open, this time by overcoming a five-stroke deficit.

Preposition: in

  • middle-term: In the final analysis, energy security means the worldwide energy deficit in the middle-term.

Adjective modifier

  • neurological: Despite shunting many of these patients have major neurological deficits which are linked to abnormal development of the cerebral cortex in the fetus.
  • democratic: There will be nothing about the democratic deficit, or about the many problems being created by the euro.
  • fiscal: The fixed exchange rate regime under which the two countries operated was undermined by the fiscal deficits that were run from the 1980s.
  • cognitive: Other patient groups with cognitive deficits may have similar outcomes.
  • two-goal: With Partizan committed to chasing a two-goal deficit, holes not surprisingly appeared at the back whenever their infrequent attacks broke down.
  • neuropsychological: Surgery need not be associated with increased neurological or neuropsychological deficit.

Modifies a noun

  • hyperactivity: Abstract: Some previous studies have linked attention deficit hyperactivity disorder ( ADHD ) with a bias in spatial awareness away from the left.
  • disorder: This is Who for the attention deficit disorder generation.
  • financing: Deficit financing would prevent the re-emergence of unemployment as a serious problem.

Noun used with modifier

  • attention: My poor progress in mathematics was largely a result of my attention deficit.
  • budget: The Government's annual budget deficit stands at 4 per cent of GDP.
  • moisture: These, together with the limited rainfall over most aquifer outcrop areas, resulted in a steep increase in soil moisture deficits.
  • pension: Royal Mail has a pension fund deficit of approximately £ 4.25 billion.
  • calorie: You must be in a calorie deficit to burn fat.
  • trade: The UK's trade deficit reached a record £ 26 billion in 1999.
deficit Quotes

The Montreal Olympics can no more have a deficit than a man can have a baby.

—Drapeau,Jean

The mystery is why we even collect these figures; if we kept similar statistics for Manhattan Island,Park Avenue could layawake at night worrying about its trade deficit.

—Bartley, Robert Leroy