Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Inadequacy or insufficiency.
- noun A deficiency or impairment in mental or physical functioning.
- noun The amount by which a sum of money falls short of the required or expected amount; a shortage.
- noun A business loss.
- noun An amount that quantifies an unfavorable condition or position.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A failure or falling off in amount; specifically, a financial deficiency: as, a deficit in the taxes or revenue.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Deficiency in amount or quality; a falling short; lack
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Deficiency in amount or quality; a falling short; lack.
- noun A situation wherein, or amount whereby, spending exceeds government revenue.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun an excess of liabilities over assets (usually over a certain period)
- noun (sports) the score by which a team or individual is losing
- noun the property of being an amount by which something is less than expected or required
- noun a deficiency or failure in neurological or mental functioning
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Lonely, because some progressives think the term deficit hawk is a pejorative, and many deficit hawks think progressives aren't serious.
The liberal case for cutting domestic spending Derek Thompson 2011
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If Marr had used the term deficit, you would be correct, but there is a big difference between the deficit and the debt.
Brown's truth deficit on Andy Marr Jeff 2009
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If being in deficit is "broke," Bush has already bankrupted the general fund by your logic.
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Our pension plan, instead of being in deficit, is actuarially balanced for the next 75 years.
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But the deficit is the symptom rather than the cause.
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In economic terms of course a deficit is a deficit, whether primary or otherwise, but to get from Point A to Point B we need to pass through some measurable intermediate stages.
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The long-term deficit is driven by the aging of the population as well as by growing health-care costs, both contributing to Social Security and Medicare expenses.
The Washington Post is now worried about Democratic tax plans. - Moe_Lane’s blog - RedState 2009
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Given that most of the long-term deficit is due to Medicare, has either political party come up with a credible solution?
Economists as Heretics, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty 2009
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So it goes in Campaign 2010, where cutting the deficit is a big issue, but where support for doing some of the hard things to achieve that is running into politics as usual.
Push to Cut Deficit Collides With Politics as Usual Gerald F. Seib 2010
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As Matthew says @147 “the deficit is the symptom rather than the cause.”
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