undersupply

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verb

To provide with insufficient supplies; to supply inadequately

OriginEnglish supply ← Middle English under- ← Old English under- →
Scrabble 19
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Meanings

verbundersupply (third-person singular simple present undersupplies, present participle undersupplying, simple past and past participle undersupplied)

present singular third person undersupplies · participle present undersupplying · participle past undersupplied · past undersupplied

  1. To provide with insufficient supplies; to supply inadequately

    As a result, clinics and hospitals are understaffed and undersupplied.

    2007 April 18, Elisabeth Rosenthal, “Iraq’s Public Health Services Severely Strained, Group Says”, in New York Times
nounundersupply (countable and uncountable, plural undersupplies)

plural undersupplies

  1. countableuncountableAn inadequate supply.

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₁én
  2. Proto-Indo-European*h₁entér
  3. Proto-Indo-European*h₂én
  4. Proto-Indo-European*dʰeh₁-?
  5. Proto-Indo-European*(H)n̥dʰí
  6. Proto-Indo-European*(H)n̥dʰér
  7. Proto-Germanic*under
  8. Proto-West Germanic*undar
  9. Old Englishunder-
  10. Middle Englishunder-
  11. Englishunder-
  12. Englishsupply
  13. Englishundersupply

From under- + supply.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

undersupply. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/undersupply

MLA

“undersupply.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/undersupply. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “undersupply,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/undersupply.

Source: undersupply on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.