lack Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun the state of needing something that is absent or unavailable
    deficiency; want.
    • there is a serious lack of insight into the problem
    • water is the critical deficiency in desert regions
    • for want of a nail the shoe was lost
  2. verb be without
    miss.
    • This soup lacks salt
    • There is something missing in my jewelry box!

WordNet

Lack noun
Etymology
OE. lak; cf. D. lak slander, laken to blame, OHG. lahan, AS. leán.
Definitions
  1. Blame; cause of blame; fault; crime; offense. Obs. Chaucer.
  2. Deficiency; want; need; destitution; failure; as, a lack of sufficient food.
    She swooneth now and now for lakke of blood. Chaucer.
    Let his lack of years be no impediment. Shak.
Lack transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Lacked ; present participle & verbal noun Lacking
Definitions
  1. To blame; to find fault with. Obs.
    Love them and lakke them not. Piers Plowman.
  2. To be without or destitute of; to want; to need.
    If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God. James i. 5.
Lack intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To be wanting; often, impersonally, with of, meaning, to be less than, short, not quite, etc.
    What hour now ? I think it lacks of twelve. Shak.
    Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty. Gen. xvii. 28.
  2. To be in want.
    The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger. Ps. xxxiv. 10.
Lack interjection
Etymology
Cf. Alack.
Definitions
  1. Exclamation of regret or surprise. Prov. Eng. Cowper.

Webster 1913