lack
See also: Lack and läck
English
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /lak/
- (US) IPA(key): /læk/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -æk
Etymology 1
Middle English, cognate with or from Middle Low German lak, Middle Dutch lac (“deficiency”) and Middle Dutch laken (“blame, lack”); all ultimately from Proto-Germanic *laka-, related to *lak(k)ōn- (“to blame, reproach”), from Proto-Indo-European *lok-néh₂-. See also Dutch lak (“calumny”), Old Norse lakr (“lacking”).
Noun
lack (countable and uncountable, plural lacks)
- A deficiency or need (of something desirable or necessary); an absence, want.
- Antonyms: glut, surplus
- c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act IV, scene i]:
- […] let his lack of years be no impediment to let him lack a reverend estimation;
- 1994, Green Day (lyrics and music), “Basket Case”:
- I went to a shrink, to analyze my dreams. He said it's lack of sex that's bringing me down.
- 2012 September 7, Phil McNulty, “Moldova 0-5 England”, in BBC Sport:
- If Moldova harboured even the slightest hopes of pulling off a comeback that would have bordered on miraculous given their lack of quality, they were snuffed out 13 minutes before the break when Oxlade-Chamberlain picked his way through midfield before releasing Defoe for a finish that should have been dealt with more convincingly by Namasco at his near post.
- 2022 January 12, Tom Allett, “Network News: MPs concerned at Treasury's influence on rail industry”, in RAIL, number 948, page 13:
- More flak was aimed at the Treasury's apparent lack of marketing skills, when it was argued that its idea of how to sell tickets was along the lines of "you can get two tickets for the price of two", and it lacks the sales and promotional skills of the train operating companies which are needed to boost revenue.
- (obsolete) A defect or failing; moral or spiritual degeneracy.
- 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., OCLC 222716698:
- In the old days, to my commonplace and unobserving mind, he gave no evidences of genius whatsoever. He never read me any of his manuscripts, […], and therefore my lack of detection of his promise may in some degree be pardoned.
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Derived terms
- lackless
Translations
deficiency, need
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Verb
lack (third-person singular simple present lacks, present participle lacking, simple past and past participle lacked)
- (transitive, stative) To be without, to need, to require.
- My life lacks excitement.
- 2022 January 12, Tom Allett, “Network News: MPs concerned at Treasury's influence on rail industry”, in RAIL, number 948, page 13:
- More flak was aimed at the Treasury's apparent lack of marketing skills, when it was argued that its idea of how to sell tickets was along the lines of "you can get two tickets for the price of two", and it lacks the sales and promotional skills of the train operating companies which are needed to boost revenue.
- (intransitive) To be short (of or for something).
- He'll never lack for company while he's got all that money.
- c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene iv]:
- Hamlet. What hour now?
Horatio. I think it lacks of twelve.
- (intransitive, obsolete) To be in want.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Psalms 34:10:
- The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger […]
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- (obsolete) To see the deficiency in (someone or something); to find fault with, to malign, reproach.
- c. 1370–1390, [William Langland], “[Passus II]”, in The Vision of Pierce Plowman [...], London: […] Roberte Crowley, […], published 1550, OCLC 837479643:
- That is Mede þe Mayde quod she · hath noyed me ful oft / And ylakked my lemman.
- (please add an English translation of this quote)
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Related terms
- lackluster
Translations
be without, need, require
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Noun
lack (plural lacks)
- Archaic form of lakh.
- a lack of rupees
Further reading
- Kroonen, Guus (2013), “lak(k)on-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 325
Anagrams
- calk, kcal
German
Pronunciation
Audio (file)
Verb
lack
- imperative singular of lacken
- (colloquial) first-person singular present of lacken
Swedish
Etymology
From French lacre (“sealing wax”), from Portuguese laca.
Noun
lack n
- lacquer
Declension
| Declension of lack | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | |||
| Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite | |
| Nominative | lack | lacket | lacker | lackerna |
| Genitive | lacks | lackets | lackers | lackernas |
Related terms
- klarlack
- lacknafta
- lackskor
- nagellack
Adjective
lack (comparative mer lack, superlative mest lack)
- (colloquial) angry
- Jag blir lack på honom
- I get angry at him
References
- lack in Svensk ordbok (SO)
- lack in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
- lack in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)