be without; "This soup lacks salt"; "There is something missing in my jewellery box!"
To be wanting; often, impersonally, with of, meaning, to be less than, short, not quite, etc
If you say that someone or something lacks a particular quality or that a particular quality is lacking in them, you mean that they do not have any or enough of it. He lacked the judgment and political acumen for the post of chairman Certain vital information is lacking in the report. see also lacking
emphasis If you say there is no lack of something, you are emphasizing that there is a great deal of it. He said there was no lack of things for them to talk about. when there is not enough of something, or none of it = shortage lack of
If there is a lack of something, there is not enough of it or it does not exist at all. Despite his lack of experience, he got the job The charges were dropped for lack of evidence There is a lack of people wanting to start up new businesses
the state of needing something that is absent or unavailable; "there is a serious lack of insight into the problem"; "water is the critical deficiency in desert regions"; "for want of a nail the shoe was lost"