lacks

NOUN

deficiency, need

Synonyms

STRONGEST

absence dearth inadequacy loss paucity poverty reduction scarcity shortage shortcoming shortfall

STRONG

abridgement curtailment decrease default defect deficit depletion deprivation destitution distress exigency exiguity inferiority insufficiency meagerness miss necessity privation retrenchment scantiness shortness shrinkage shrinking slightness stint want

WEAK

insufficience

Antonyms

STRONGEST

abundance affluence enough excess plenty success sufficiency

STRONG

addition advantage enlargement expansion increase perfection

WEAK

extra lot plethora profusion surplus

VERB

do not have

Synonyms

STRONGEST

need require want

STRONG

minus miss out

WEAK

be deficient in be short of be without have need of hurting for not got too little too late

Antonyms

STRONGEST

dislike have

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

I think about Henrietta Lacks, a Black woman who died at the age of 31 from cervical cancer.

From Slate • Jan. 11, 2026

But for defendant’s counsel it was a miscarriage of law: “Objection. Calls for legal conclusion. Calls for expert opinion. Relevance. Lacks foundation,” she interjected, prompting a weary, “Overruled,” from the judge.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 16, 2025

Some even envision the immortality of Henrietta Lacks, a Black woman whose cells were taken without consent for what became revolutionary breakthroughs in medicine, as an Afrofuturist parable.

From New York Times • Mar. 16, 2024

A Black mother of five from southern Virginia, Lacks and her family were living outside Baltimore when she was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 1951.

From Seattle Times • Aug. 10, 2023

There were so many people buried in the Lacks cemetery now, he said, they’d run out of room decades ago and started piling graves on top of each other.

From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot