Word Study
shortage
CIDE DICTIONARY
shortage, n.
Amount or extent of deficiency, as determined by some requirement or standard; as, a shortage in money accounts. [1913 Webster]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
shortage, n. (often foll. by of) a deficiency; an amount lacking (a shortage of 100 tons).
THESAURUS
shortage
absence, adulteration, arrear, arrearage, arrears, beggary, break, curtailment, dearth, decline, defalcation, default, defect, defectibility, defectiveness, deficiency, deficit, delinquency, deprivation, destitution, discontinuity, drought, erroneousness, failure, fallibility, falling short, famine, faultiness, gap, hiatus, immaturity, impairment, imperfection, impoverishment, impurity, inaccuracy, inadequacy, inadequateness, incompleteness, inexactitude, inexactness, inferiority, insufficiency, interval, lack, lacuna, mediocrity, missing link, need, omission, outage, patchiness, paucity, pinch, scantiness, scarcity, short measure, shortcoming, shortfall, sketchiness, slump, starvation, tightness, ullage, underage, undevelopment, unevenness, unperfectedness, unsoundness, want, wantageROGET THESAURUS
shortage
Incompleteness
N incompleteness, deficiency, short measure, shortcoming, insufficiency, imperfection, immaturity, half measures, defect, deficit, defalcation, omission, caret, shortage, interval, break, noncompletion, missing link, missing piece, missing part, gap, hole, lacuna, incomplete, imperfect, unfinished, uncompleted &c (complete), defective, deficient, wanting, lacking, failing, in default, in arrear, short of, hollow, meager, lame, halfand-half, perfunctory, sketchy, crude, mutilated, garbled, docked, lopped, truncated, in progress, in hand, going on, proceeding, incompletely, by halves, caetera desunt, caret.For further exploring for "shortage" in Webster Dictionary Online