1. (n.) Blame; cause of blame; fault; crime; offense.

2. (n.) Deficiency; want; need; destitution; failure; as, a lack of sufficient food.

3. (v. t.) To blame; to find fault with.

4. (v. t.) To be without or destitute of; to want; to need.

5. (v. i.) To be wanting; often, impersonally, with of, meaning, to be less than, short, not quite, etc.

6. (v. i.) To be in want.

7. (interj.) Exclamation of regret or surprise.

absence adulteration arrearage awayness bare cupboard bare subsistence be found wanting be in want be insufficient be pinched be poor beggarliness beggary blank break collapse come short dearth decline defalcation default defect defectibility defectiveness deficiency deficit deprivation destitution discontinuity drought empty purse erroneousness fail fail of fall away fall short fall shy fallibility famine faultiness gap go on welfare grinding poverty gripe hand-to-mouth existence hiatus homelessness immaturity impairment imperfection impoverishment impurity inaccuracy inadequacy inadequateness incompleteness indigence inexactitude inexactness insufficiency interval kick the beam lacuna lag lose ground mediocrity mendicancy miss missing link moneylessness necessitousness necessity need neediness neverness nonexistence nonoccurrence nonpresence not answer not hack it not make it not make out not measure up not qualify not stretch not suffice nowhereness omission outage patchiness paucity pauperism pauperization penury pinch privation require run short run short of scantiness scarcity shortage shortcoming shortfall sketchiness slump starvation starve stop short subtraction ullage underage undevelopment unevenness unperfectedness unsoundness want wantage