Meanings
- Scarce, or difficult to find, or purchase.
But that would require imagination - something in short supply in the Treasury.
2021 November 3, Christian Wolmar, “A lot of words... but very little in the way of action”, in RAIL, number 943, page 451 more example
The first half was attritional, too congested for England’s liking. Tuchel has talked about bringing Premier League levels of intensity but that was in short supply.
2025 March 24, David Hytner, “Reece James bends it like Beckham to help England break down Latvia”, in The GuardianSynonyms: at a premium, deficient, infrequent, poor, rare, scant, scanty, scarce
Synonyms & antonyms
prepositional phraseScarce, or difficult to find, or purchase.
Cite this entry
in short supply. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20short%20supply
“in short supply.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20short%20supply. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “in short supply,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20short%20supply.
Source: in short supply on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.