[1] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

dearth \dearth\, n. oe. derthe, fr. dere. see dear.
   scarcity which renders dear; want; lack; specifically, lack
   of food on account of failure of crops; famine.
   1913 webster

         there came a dearth over all the land of egypt. --acts
                                                  vii. 11.
   1913 webster

         he with her press'd, she faint with dearth. --shak.
   1913 webster

         dearth of plot, and narrowness of imagination.
                                                  --dryden.
   1913 webster
see also:
dear 

[2] : WordNet (r) 2.0

dearth
     n 1: an acute insufficiency syn: famine, shortage
     2: an insufficient quantity or number syn: paucity
see also:
famine shortage paucity 

[3] : Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

47 moby thesaurus words for "dearth":
   absence, aridity, barrenness, birth control, contraception,
   default, defect, deficiency, dry womb, dryness, exiguity,
   exiguousness, family planning, famine, impotence, inadequacy,
   ineffectualness, infecundity, infertility, infrequency,
   insufficiency, lack, meagerness, miss, need, paucity,
   planned parenthood, poverty, privation, rareness, rarity,
   scant sufficiency, scantiness, scantness, scarceness, scarcity,
   shortage, sparseness, sparsity, sterileness, sterility,
   uncommonness, unfertileness, unfruitfulness, unproductiveness,
   want, withered loins

[4] : Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary

dearth
   a scarcity of provisions 1 kings 17. there were frequent
   dearths in palestine. in the days of abram there was a "famine
   in the land" gen. 12:10, so also in the days of jacob 47:4,
   13. we read also of dearths in the time of the judges ruth
   1:1, and of the kings 2 sam. 21:1; 1 kings 18:2; 2 kings 4:38;
   8:1.
   
     in new testament times there was an extensive famine in
   palestine acts 11:28 in the fourth year of the reign of the
   emperor claudius a.d. 44 and 45.
   

Dearth >> D Words
Dearth, definition of term: Dearth
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