Dearth   (pronounced duhrth) noun


Definition
1. a scarcity of food; famine. 2. a scarcity or lack of something

Main Example

  • A task force headed by former Senators Warren Rudman and Gary Hart has warned that there is still a dearth of security at the nation's ports and border entry points through which hundreds of ships, trucks, and trains enter the United States each day.

    Workplace Examples

  • Why do they want to fill the vice president's slot by hiring from the outside? There is certainly no dearth of promising candidates within the company!

  • I think the main reason why our company has gone nowhere these past few years is the dearth of leadership--a strategizing-and-execution vacuum, so to speak--at the senior management level.

    Other Examples

  • not losing sleep over a recent layoff because there's no dearth of job opportunities in your field

  • the Bush administration frustrated by the dearth of hard evidence linking Saddam Hussein to Osama bin Laden

  • a recent nationwide test revealing a painful dearth of historical knowledge among our high school seniors: for instance, a majority thought Ulysses S. Grant was a Revolutionary War general, and only about 20% of the students knew that the words "government of the people, by the people, for the people" are from the Gettysburg address

    © 2002 V.J. Singal

    This Month's Other Words

    Fillip
    Dissemble
    Indefatigable
    Irksome
    Milieu
    Coalesce
    Acrimonious and Acrimony

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