lack
 lack (lăk)n.
1. Deficiency or absence:
Lack of funding brought the project to a halt.
2. A particular deficiency or absence:
Owing to a lack of supporters, the reforms did not succeed.v. lacked, lack·ing, lacksv. tr.
To be without or in need of:
lacked the strength to lift the box.v. intr.
1. To be missing or deficient:
We suspected that he was lying, but proof was lacking.
2. To be in need of something:
She does not lack for friends. [Middle English, perhaps from Middle Dutch lac, deficiency, fault.]
Synonyms: lack, want, need
These verbs mean to be without something, especially something that is necessary or desirable. Lack emphasizes the absence of something: She lacks the money to buy new shoes. The plant died because it lacked moisture. Want and need stress the urgent necessity for filling a void or remedying an inadequacy: “Her pens were uniformly bad and wanted fixing” (Bret Harte). The garden needs care.
Usage Note: When lack is used intransitively, the present participle is generally followed by in: You will not be lacking in support from me. Other forms of the intransitive verb are most often followed by for: In the terrible, beautiful age of my prime,/I lacked for sweet linen but never for time (E.B. White).
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