Deficient In: Standard Pattern records a directly documented English construction and keeps guidance bounded to the evidenced pattern rather than inventing a broader prohibition.
ReviewedEvidence1 sourceSectionEnglish Usage
Quick answer
Use “deficient in” for something that lacks enough of a substance, quality, skill, or other needed element.
Key details
Confusion Familyusage-construction
Rule Familyadjective complement
Termsdeficient in, be deficient in something
Further guidance
Construction
Use “deficient in” for something that lacks enough of a substance, quality, skill, or other needed element.
Style Boundary
The page records the documented “in” complement and does not turn every use of “deficient” into a mandatory prepositional phrase.
Sources and evidence
Sources are shown with the role they play in this guide. Historical or style-sensitive claims are kept within the evidence boundary described above.
Absent From: Standard Pattern records a directly documented English construction and keeps guidance bounded to the evidenced pattern rather than inventing a broader prohibition.
Accountable For: Standard Pattern records the directly documented Cambridge construction and keeps guidance bounded to the evidenced complement pattern rather than inventing a broader prohibition.
Acquainted With: Standard Pattern records a directly documented English construction and keeps guidance bounded to the evidenced pattern rather than inventing a broader prohibition.
Addicted To: Standard Pattern records a directly documented English construction and keeps guidance bounded to the evidenced pattern rather than inventing a broader prohibition.
Adept At: Standard Pattern records a directly documented English construction and keeps guidance bounded to the evidenced pattern rather than inventing a broader prohibition.
Adjacent To: Standard Pattern records the directly documented construction and keeps guidance bounded to the evidenced complement pattern rather than inventing a broader prohibition.
