undermanned
- adjective
- /ˌʌndərˈmænd/
- The department is severely undermanned, which makes it difficult to meet deadlines.
- undermanned and underfunded
Examples
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In terms of his actual coaching, I love that he's been more aggressive, especially in road games, than the past regime, and while there have been a lot of growing pains, you can tell that he's squeezing as much as he can out of a thin, undermanned team that nobody expected much out of even before the NCAA effectively crippled the program.
Blog text (34) -
Freeland, a bouncy 6-7 forward who once erupted for 24 points at Georgetown and 25 at Syracuse, will add scoring and rebounding to Long Beach State's undermanned frontcourt.
Blog text (17) -
On the ground, the United States appears undermanned.
Academic text (2004) -
Feed him into an undermanned fighter squadron.
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Day in and day out, I'm undermanned, under-armed and underpaid.
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It is apparent that the Jets are an undermanned team on the offensive side of the ball, starting at the skill positions.
Blog text (22) -
The current security staff is woefully undermanned, undertrained, and inattentive.
Blog text (32) -
After a rocky start to the season (at least for him), Rodgers is right back on track, and Detroit's undermanned secondary could be in trouble.
Blog text (8) -
But when doing so, they must realize that no matter who wins, the next president's biggest problem will be fighting wars overseas with a war-weary populace and an undermanned and ill-equipped military.
Blog text (12) -
Harriman frowns again, trying to come up with another solution, but it isn't easy—it's his first day in command; his ship is undermanned and ill-prepared.
Fiction book (1994)
Synonyms
There are not enough workers to do the work needed
Not having enough people to do the job
There are too few workers to do the work well
Does not have enough people or resources to work properly
Antonyms
How Staffed
Surface Forms
Morphology
undermanned = underman (transparent) = under + man + ed
The word is transparently built from 'underman' + 'ed', indicating a state of being insufficiently staffed.
Etymology
Undermanned comes from under ('too few' or 'below') plus manned ('having people' or 'staffed'). Think of a ship or shop with too few crew or workers — it is 'undermanned' — so today the word means 'not having enough workers or staff'.