deficient.
Lacking something essential; often construed with in.
Meaning & usage
Lacking something essential; often construed with in.
They were deficient in social skills.
His voice is beautiful but deficient in power.
Insufficient or inadequate in amount.
Of a number n, Having the sum of divisors σ(n) < 2n, or, equivalently, the sum of proper divisors (or aliquot sum) s(n) < n.
Where this word comes from
From Latin deficiens, present participle of deficere (“to lack, fail, be wanting”); see defect.
A person who is deficient.
Where this word comes from
From Latin deficiens, present participle of deficere (“to lack, fail, be wanting”); see defect.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.