deficit

See also: déficit and dèficit

English

Etymology

From French déficit, from Latin dēficit.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈdɛfɪsɪt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈdɛfəsɪt/
• Hyphenation: de‧fi‧cit

Noun

deficit (plural deficits)

1. Deficiency in amount or quality; a falling short; lack.

   The crop output this year has been comparatively small, owing to the deficit in rainfall.

2. A situation wherein, or amount whereby, spending exceeds (e.g. government) revenue.
   • 1962 October, “Talking of Trains: Passed to you, Mr. Macmillan”, in Modern Railways, page 220:

     Dr. Beeching's obvious intent is that if Scottish—and similarly unprofitable English and Welsh—railways are to be maintained, it must be done by an unconcealed subsidy; he is determined that the railways shall no longer be preoccupied with—and derided for—immense deficits which include the burden of social services the State must openly underwrite, if it wants them.

   • 1996 August 4, “It's Time for a Reality Check on the Deficit”, in Contra Costa Times, Contra Costa, CA:

     But Wall Street, which has a case of deficit-attention disorder, is no longer focused on a balanced budget. "The bond market only worries about one thing at [a time.]

   • 2013 September 28, Kenan Malik, “London Is Special, but Not That Special”, in New York Times, retrieved 28 September 2013:

     Economically, too, London is startlingly different. The capital, unlike the country as a whole, has no budget deficit: London’s public spending matches the taxes paid in the city. The average Londoner contributes 70 percent more to Britain’s national income than people in the rest of the country.

Synonyms

• fiscal deficit, shortfall

Antonyms

• surplus

Derived terms

• antideficit
• attention deficit disorder
• attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
• attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder
• budget deficit
• caloric deficit
• calorie deficit
• deficit good
• deficit hawk
• deficit spending
• democratic deficit
• fiscal deficit
• information deficit model
• nature deficit disorder
• nature-deficit disorder
• negative deficit
• neurodeficit
• nondeficit
• oxygen deficit
• soil moisture deficit
• structural deficit
• trade deficit

Related terms

• defect
• defection
• defective
• defector
• deficiency
• deficient

Translations

deficiency — see deficiency

situation wherein spending exceeds government revenue

Albanian: deficit (sq) m Armenian: դեֆիցիտ (hy) (deficʻit), պակասուրդ (hy) (pakasurd) Belarusian: дэфіцы́т m (deficýt) Bulgarian: дефици́т (bg) m (deficít) Catalan: dèficit (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 赤字 (zh) (chìzì), 亏损 (zh) (Kuīkong), 亏空 (zh) (kuīkōng) Czech: deficit (cs) m Dutch: tekort (nl), gat in de begroting n Esperanto: deficito Finnish: vaje (fi) French: déficit budgétaire (fr), déficit (fr) (note: déficit in French also has a broader meaning) Galician: déficit m Georgian: დეფიციტი (depiciṭi) German: Defizit (de) n Greek: έλλειμμα (el) n (élleimma) Hebrew: גרעון m (gira'on) Hindi: घाटा (hi) m (ghāṭā) Hungarian: hiány (hu), deficit (hu) Icelandic: halli (is) m, tekjuhalli m Indonesian: defisit (id) Italian: deficit (it) m, disavanzo (it) m Japanese: 赤字 (ja) (あかじ, akaji), 欠損 (ja) (けっそん, kesson) Khmer: ឱនភាព (km) (ʼaonaʼphiəp) Korean: 적자 (ko) (jeokja) Kyrgyz: таңсык (taŋsık) Lao: ຂາດດຸນ (khāt dun) Malay: defisit Mongolian: please add this translation if you can Norwegian: underskudd Polish: deficyt (pl) m Portuguese: déficit (pt) m (chiefly, Brazil), défice (pt) m (Portugal) Romanian: deficit (ro) n Russian: дефици́т (ru) m (deficít) Spanish: déficit (es) m Swedish: underskott (sv) Tagalog: depisit Thai: please add this translation if you can Ukrainian: дефіци́т m (deficýt) Vietnamese: sự thâm hụt

References

• “deficit”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Further reading

• deficit on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Albanian

Noun

deficit m

1. (finance) deficit

Declension

Declension of deficit

	singular
	indefinite	definite
nominative	deficit	deficiti
accusative		deficitin
dative/ablative	deficiti	deficitit

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈdɛfɪt͡sɪt]

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

deficit m inan

1. deficit

Declension

Declension of deficit (hard masculine inanimate)

	singular	plural
nominative	deficit	deficity
genitive	deficitu	deficitů
dative	deficitu	deficitům
accusative	deficit	deficity
vocative	deficite	deficity
locative	deficitu	deficitech
instrumental	deficitem	deficity

Related terms

• defekt m

Further reading

• “deficit”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “deficit”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989

Italian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English deficit.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɛ.fi.t͡ʃit/
• Rhymes: -ɛfitʃit
• Hyphenation: dè‧fi‧cit

Noun

deficit m (invariable)

1. (economics, medicine) deficit

Latin

Verb

dēficit

1. third-person singular present active indicative of dēficiō

Descendants

• → French: déficit (with the meaning of a lacking)
  • → English: deficit
  • → Translingual: deficit
  • → Russian: дефицит (deficit)

Portuguese

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈdɛ.fi.si.t͡ʃi/, /ˈdɛ.fi.sit͡ʃ/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈdɛ.fi.si.t͡ʃi/, /ˈdɛ.fi.sit͡ʃ/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈdɛ.fi.sit͡ʃ/, /ˈdɛ.fi.si.t͡ʃi/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈdɛ.fi.sit/

• Hyphenation: de‧fi‧cit

Noun

deficit m (plural deficits)

1. alternative form of déficit

Further reading

• “deficit”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2025
• “deficit”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French déficit.

Noun

deficit n (plural deficite)

1. deficit

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	deficit	deficitul		deficite	deficitele
genitive-dative	deficit	deficitului		deficite	deficitelor
vocative	deficitule			deficitelor

Serbo-Croatian

Noun

dȅficit m inan (Cyrillic spelling де̏фицит)

1. deficit (financial)

Declension

Declension of deficit

	singular	plural
nominative	deficit	deficiti
genitive	deficita	deficita
dative	deficitu	deficitima
accusative	deficit	deficite
vocative	deficite	deficiti
locative	deficitu	deficitima
instrumental	deficitom	deficitima