Understaffed

adj

adj ·3 syllables ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective

1
having an inadequate number of workers or assistants
"At Southall, we believe, it has been difficult to spare men from an understaffed motive power establishment to undergo non revenue-earning training on the diesel multiple-units, because crews are scarce for trip freight working."

Adjective

1
inadequate in number of workers or assistants etc. wordnet

Synonyms

short staffed short handed short-handed short-staffed short-staffed shorthanded

Example

"We're really understaffed tonight."

Etymology

From under- + staffed.

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