Dearth: meaning, example and synonyms
Dearthn. A scarcity or lack of something.
Example
A dearth of reliable records from the period forces historians to reconstruct village life from tax rolls and a handful of surviving diaries.
- Part of speech
- noun
- Synonyms
- scarcity, shortage, lack, paucity
- Antonyms
- abundance, plenty, surplus, glut
- Memory tip
- Dearth comes from "dear": whatever is scarce becomes dear (costly).
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Check yourself: Dearth in context
Because of the ______ of qualified teachers in the remote province, many schools combined several grades in one classroom led by a single instructor.
Answer: dearth. Combining grades under one teacher signals a shortage, a dearth. Magnitude, reverence and elasticity don't express a lack of teachers.
Ecologists attribute the birds' decline to the ______ of flowering plants in the valley, where decades of grazing have left little but tough grasses.
Answer: dearth. Little left but grasses means flowers are scarce: a dearth. Exactitude, elasticity and fabrication don't describe scarcity.