deficit

noun

Simple meaning

A situation wherein, or amount whereby, spending exceeds revenue.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

dehfuhsuht

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IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈdɛfəsət

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

A situation wherein, or amount whereby, spending exceeds (e.g. government) revenue.
Deficiency in amount or quality; a falling short; lack.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty: B2 · Upper Intermediate
Frequency: Moderately Common
Typical Use: Neutral / general English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Deficiency in amount or quality; a falling short; lack.

Used this way, deficit is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone: Negative
Formality: Neutral
Intensity: Gentle
How common: Moderately common
Connotation: Serious and weighty
Usage feel: Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use deficit

“New blood vessels bud out from the already dilated vascular bed to make up the nutritional deficit.”noun
“The people concerned have a deficit in verbal memory.”noun
“Last year there was a serious budgetary deficit.”noun

Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Deficiency

deficit disorder

Situation

deficit spendingattention deficit

Other combinations

budget deficittrade deficitaccount deficitdeficit financingdeficit reduction

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

deficit spendingnounCompound term
Spending money raised by borrowing.
attention deficit hyperactivity disordernounCompound term
A condition (mostly in boys) characterized by behavioral and learning disorders.
budget deficitnounCompound term
An excess of expenditures over revenues.
federal deficitnounCompound term
An excess of the federal government's spending over its revenue.
oxygen deficitnounCompound term
Temporary oxygen shortage in cells resulting from strenuous exercise.
attention deficit disordernounCompound term
A condition (mostly in boys) characterized by behavioral and learning disorders.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.