English▸ (lack of) noun [mass noun] the state of being without or not having enough of something:
there is no lack of entertainment aboard ship
the case was dismissed for lack of evidence
[in singular] there is a lack of parking space in the town.
▸ verb [with object] be without or deficient in:
the novel lacks imagination
[no object] she lacks in patience
Sam did not lack for friends.
– ORIGIN Middle English: corresponding to, and perhaps partly from, Middle Dutch and Middle Low German lak ‘deficiency’, Middle Dutch laken ‘lack, blame’.