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 →

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 →
• The school needs 60 chairs but has 48. What is the shortage? tree →
• Because of a shortage, each child got 2 pencils instead of 3. tree →
• The shortage of water was 200 litres. tree →
• During the drought there was a water shortage. tree →
• Turn off the tap to save water during a shortage. tree →
• There is a shortage of nurses in the hospital. tree →
• A shortage of rain dried up the river. tree →

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.
• Children = (surplus + shortage) / (difference per child); the pencils are 7 × 3 + 5 = 26.
• A shortage is not having enough of something; countries that depend on imports are hit hard when trade is cut off.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «shortage» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.