lack
n. C / Un. a situation where you do not have enough of something you need. It describes a missing piece or a shortage of something important.
n. the state of being without or having an insufficient quantity of something. Often functions as the head of a prepositional phrase to specify the missing element.
The plants died because of a lack of water.
The project failed not because the team was lazy, but due to a total lack of clear communication from management.
Despite the candidate's impressive academic credentials, the hiring committee remained concerned about her apparent lack of practical experience in high-pressure corporate environments.
From Middle English lack, lakke, lak, from Old English læc (“deficiency, lack, want”), from Proto-West Germanic lak, from Proto-Germanic laką, lakaz (“slackness”), from Proto-Germanic lakaz (“limp, slack, loose, low”), related to lak(k)ōną (“to blame, reproach”), from Proto-Indo-European *lok-néh₂-. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Lak (“lack”), Middle Low German lack, lak (“lack”), Dutch lak (“lack, deficiency, calumny”), Icelandic lakur (“lacking”). Related also to Middle Dutch laken (“to blame, lack”). Eclipsed non-native Middle English carence (“absence, lack”), from Old French carence.
From Middle English lacken, lakken, laken, from Old English læccian, lacian (“to blame, criticise, lack”), from Proto-West Germanic lak(k)ōn (“to blame, be lacking”), from Proto-Germanic lak(k)ōną (“to reproach, blame, be lacking”), from Proto-Indo-European lok-néh₂-. Cognate with Old Frisian lakia, lekia (“to contest, blame”), Middle Low German lacken, laken (“to reproach, blame, criticise”), Middle Dutch laken (“to disapprove, blame, lack”), Dutch laken (“to blame, reproach”).
Commonly followed by the preposition 'of' to indicate the missing resource. When used as a singular countable noun, it almost always takes the indefinite article 'a'.
the lack about moneythe lack of moneyThe noun 'lack' is almost exclusively paired with the preposition 'of' to show what is missing.