Dearth — Dearth, n. [OE. derthe, fr. dere. See {Dear}.] Scarcity which renders dear; want; lack; specifically, lack of food on account of failure of crops; famine. [1913 Webster] There came a dearth over all the land of Egypt. Acts vii. 11. [1913 Webster] … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
dearth — [dɜːθ ǁ dɜːrθ] noun [singular] a lack of something: • This is a critical time for small business, which faces a dearth of start up financing. opposite glut1 * * * dearth UK US /dɜːθ/ noun [S] ► a situation when there is not enough of something: » … Financial and business terms
dearth — [də:θ US də:rθ] n [singular] [Date: 1200 1300; Origin: DEAR3 expensive (11 21 centuries)] a lack of something dearth of ▪ a dearth of job opportunities … Dictionary of contemporary English
dearth — [ dɜrθ ] noun singular FORMAL dearth of a situation in which there is not enough of something: LACK … Usage of the words and phrases in modern English
dearth — rapidly extended its meaning from its 13c restriction to food, to refer to a scarcity of anything: • Unable to find what she needed in ‘romantic’ novels, Letty had turned to biographies, of which there was no dearth Barbara Pym, 1977. Dearths… … Modern English usage
dearth — I noun absence, caritas, deficiency, destitution, exiguity, exiguousness, impoverishment, inadequacy, inadequateness, incompleteness, indigence, inopia, insufficiency, lack, leanness, littleness, meagerness, need, paucity, penuria, penury, pinch … Law dictionary
dearth — mid 13c., derthe scarcity (originally used of famines, when food was costly because scarce; extended to other situations of scarcity from early 14c.), abstract noun formed from root of O.E. deore precious, costly (see DEAR (Cf. dear)) + TH (Cf.… … Etymology dictionary
dearth — *lack, want, absence, defect, privation Analogous words: scarcity, infrequency, rareness, uncommonness (see corresponding adjectives at INFREQUENT): scantiness, meagerness, scantness (see corresponding adjectives at MEAGER) Antonyms: excess … New Dictionary of Synonyms
dearth — [n] insufficiency, scarcity absence, default, defect, deficiency, exiguousness, famine, inadequacy, infrequency, lack, meagerness, miss, need, paucity, poverty, privation, rareness, scantiness, scantness, shortage, slim pickings*, sparsity,… … New thesaurus
dearth — ► NOUN ▪ a scarcity or lack. ORIGIN originally in the sense «dearness and shortage of food»: from DEAR(Cf. ↑dearness) + TH(Cf. ↑ th) … English terms dictionary
