noun ·2 syllables ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   An instance of falling short, of not meeting a quota, an obligation, or more generally any expected target.

   "Due to a shortfall in revenue, we will have to make some cuts."

2. 2
   the property of being an amount by which something is less than expected or required wordnet
3. 3
   The amount by which such a quota, obligation, etc., was missed.

Synonyms

All synonyms

deficitabsencearreararrearagearrearsbeggary

Example

More examples

"A budget deficit will occur because of a revenue shortfall."

Etymology

Deverbal from fall short. By surface analysis, short + fall.

Related phrases

closure shortfallforce shortfallimplementation shortfallshortfall constraintshortfall risk

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.