From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Insufficiency \In'suf*fi"cien*cy\, noun [L. insufficientia: cf. F. insuffisance, whence OE. insuffisance. See {Insufficient}.]
1. The quality or state of being insufficient; lack of sufficiency; deficiency; inadequateness; as, the insufficiency of provisions, of an excuse, etc.
The insufficiency of the light of nature is, by the light of Scripture, . . . fully supplied. --Hooker.
2. Lack of power or skill; inability; incapacity; incompetency; as, the insufficiency of a man for an office.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
noun
1: a lack of competence; "pointed out the insufficiencies in my report"; "juvenile offenses often reflect an inadequacy in the parents" [syn: {inadequacy}]
2: (pathology) inability of a bodily part or organ to function normally
3: lack of an adequate quantity or number; "the inadequacy of unemployment benefits" [syn: {inadequacy}, {deficiency}] [ant: {sufficiency}, {sufficiency}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
96 Moby Thesaurus words for "insufficiency": arrear, arrearage, arrears, asymmetry, baseness, contrariety, daintiness, decline, defalcation, default, defectiveness, deficiency, deficit, delicacy, delinquency, difference, diminutiveness, disability, disablement, disequilibrium, disparity, disproportion, disqualification, dissatisfactoriness, exiguity, exiguousness, failure, falling short, fewness, heterogeneity, imbalance, imbecility, imperfection, inability, inadequacy, inadmissibility, incapability, incapacitation, incapacity, incompetence, incompetency, inconsequentiality, inconsiderableness, indefensibility, inefficiency, ineptitude, inequality, inequity, infancy, inferiority, injustice, insignificance, intolerability, irregularity, legal incapacity, littleness, maladroitness, meagerness, meanness, mediocrity, minority, minuteness, moderateness, nonuniformity, objectionability, odds, overbalance, pettiness, picayunishness, puniness, scantiness, shabbiness, short measure, shortage, shortcoming, shortfall, slightness, slump, smallness, subnormality, tininess, triviality, unacceptability, unbalance, underage, undesirability, unevenness, unfair discrimination, unfitness, unimportance, unsatisfactoriness, unskillfulness, unsuitability, untenability, vulgarity, wardship
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