1. (

• deficit ,
• shortage ,
• shortfall

) the property of being an amount by which something is less than expected or required; "new blood vessels bud out from the already dilated vascular bed to make up the nutritional deficit" ;

2. (

• deficit

) a deficiency or failure in neurological or mental functioning; "the people concerned have a deficit in verbal memory"; "they have serious linguistic deficits" ;

3. (

• deficit

) (sports) the score by which a team or individual is losing ;

4. (

• deficit

) an excess of liabilities over assets (usually over a certain period); "last year there was a serious budgetary deficit" ;