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# shortage

«shortage» in Mova's school dictionary: **when there is not enough of something that is needed** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 3 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (shortage, shortages)

### meaning for a pupil

A shortage is when there is not enough of something that is needed. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shortage/#m1)

### sense in the lessons

how many are missing: shortage = what is needed − what there is; in geography and science: a water shortage in a drought, a food shortage; in everyday life: a shortage of teachers or nurses; save water to help in a shortage; phrases: «a shortage of», «water shortage», «in short supply»

### examples

- There are 25 pupils and only 20 books, a shortage of 5. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shortage/#x1)
- The school needs 60 chairs but has 48. What is the shortage? [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shortage/#x2)
- Because of a shortage, each child got 2 pencils instead of 3. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shortage/#x3)
- The shortage of water was 200 litres. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shortage/#x4)
- During the drought there was a water shortage. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shortage/#x5)
- Turn off the tap to save water during a shortage. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shortage/#x6)
- There is a shortage of nurses in the hospital. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shortage/#x7)
- A shortage of rain dried up the river. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shortage/#x8)

### note

Points to a difference: shortage = need − have (60 − 48 = 12). Opposite of surplus. Trap: take the smaller amount from the bigger one, not the other way round. From «short» (not enough) + -age.

### In the corpora

- [At home people faced food shortages, and women did many jobs of the men who had gone to fight.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/history/33-the-first-world-war/14/)
- [Children = (surplus + shortage) / (difference per child); the pencils are 7 × 3 + 5 = 26.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/lessons/174-surplus-and-shortage/4/)
- [A shortage is not having enough of something; countries that depend on imports are hit hard when trade is cut off.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/37-trade-tariffs-rich-and-poor-countries/15/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «shortage» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shortage/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.