0 the total amount by which money spent is more than money received:
1 the amount by which money spent is more than money received:
2 the total amount by which money spent by a business or government is more than the money it receives:
a deficit of £10 million/$1 billion, etc. The two companies between them have reported a deficit of nearly $14bn.
have/run/show a deficit About a third of the nation's non-profit arts presenters run a large deficit each year, according to Charity Navigator.
federal/government/public deficit
The US balance of payments deficit was running at over 4% of gross domestic product.
3 the amount by which something, especially an amount of money, is smaller than it should be:
4 used to describe a situation when a business or country has spent more money than it has received, or an amount of money is smaller than it should be:
There are many priorities, but reducing the budget deficit is paramount/is of paramount importance.
By late in the first half United were staring at a seven-goal deficit and almost certain defeat.
The government claimed they were doing a good job of reducing the country's trade deficit and balancing the budget.
The deficit has been rising in recent years because of a drop in earnings from oil, the country's main export.
The cooling paradigm also permitted rapid reversal and repeated demonstration of deficits in the same testing session.
In practice the pace of expenditure and deficit reduction was in advance of that planned and as a consequence tax relaxation was possible.
If the results indicate neither memory nor symbolic play deficits, then further consideration of the executive dysfunction hypothesis is warranted.
