Dearth

Quick meaning: Dearth is a noun meaning A period or condition when food is rare and hence expensive; famine.

Meaning

A period or condition when food is rare and hence expensive; famine.

More Meanings

1. (by extension) Scarcity; a lack or short supply.
2. (transitive, dated, obsolete) To cause or produce a scarcity in something.
3. (obsolete) Dearness; the quality of being rare or costly.

Example Sentences

The dearth of A.I. chips has been exacerbated because Nvidia, a longtime provider of the chips, has a virtual lock on the market.

A dearth of signalmen and the high cost of labour is hastening an elimination process that already was well under way before the second world war.

Similarly, at Cambridge, I observe what I had seen elsewhere - the dearth of tourists. The station would normally be awash with overseas visitors and students. Now it is quiet.

And faine would hee, if he could tell how, haue plentie in his own fields, and scarcity in other mens; superfluitie at home, and dearth abroade, that hee might sell his corne at the dearer rate

Word Forms

• dearths
• dearthing
• dearthed

Synonyms for dearth

Depending on context, synonyms include famine, shortage, lack, paucity, scarcity.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include famine, paucity, shortage, scarcity, penury, poverty.

Related Dictionary Tools