shortfall

shortfall
    n 1: the property of being an amount by which something is less
         than expected or required; "new blood vessels bud out from
         the already dilated vascular bed to make up the nutritional
         deficit" [syn: {deficit}, {shortage}, {shortfall}]
    

35 Moby Thesaurus words for "shortfall":
      absence, arrear, arrearage, arrears, beggary, decline, defalcation,
      default, defectiveness, deficiency, deficit, delinquency,
      deprivation, destitution, drought, failure, falling short, famine,
      imperfection, impoverishment, inadequacy, incompleteness,
      inferiority, insufficiency, lack, need, omission, short measure,
      shortage, shortcoming, slump, starvation, underage, want,
      wantage