(n.) Scarcity; want; lack; as, a dearth of edible plants\; specifically, lack of food on account of failure of crops; famine.

absence aridity barrenness birth control contraception default defect deficiency dry womb dryness exiguity exiguousness family planning famine impotence inadequacy ineffectualness infecundity infertility infrequency insufficiency lack meagerness miss need paucity planned parenthood poverty privation rareness rarity scant sufficiency scantiness scantness scarceness scarcity shortage sparseness sparsity sterileness sterility uncommonness unfertileness unfruitfulness unproductiveness want withered loins