federal deficit
19
5.0
- noun
- /ˈfɛdərəl ˈdɛfɪsɪt/
:
déficit federal
- The vast federal deficit has led to an even more severe conflict between environmental goals and economic growth.
- reduce the federal deficit
Social Security can't, by law and by precedent and by culture, add to the federal deficit and the federal debt.
- Social Security can't, by law and by precedent and by culture, add to the federal deficit and the federal debt.
Examples
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And what does the Congressional Budget Office project the U.S. federal deficit to be in fiscal 2013?
Blog text (24) -
To sum up: Money will take center stage, with economic growth, taxes, and the federal deficit all playing major parts.
Blog text (25) -
Both made reducing the federal deficit their highest priority.
Academic text (1999) -
Why not raise reserve requirements to keep pace with the new reserves created by federal deficit spending?
Blog text (2) -
An important step in reducing the federal deficit would be to return welfare spending to pre-recession levels.
Blog text (13) -
The CBO projected a 20% cut in the federal deficit, and that is just about what the official numbers were.
Blog text (8) -
However, the fiscal cliff does have an upside of sorts in that it would reduce the federal deficit.
Blog text (8) -
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi suggests any deal cut $4 trillion from the federal deficit.
Blog text (6) -
As implied by such projections, Medicare expenditures will contribute substantially to the federal deficit for years to come unless drastic changes occur.
Academic text (1994) -
The government plans to address the federal deficit by increasing taxes and cutting spending.
Synonyms
674
4.3
An amount by which money or resources are less than needed
62
3.7
A situation when a budget has more spending than income, for example for a government or company
How Large
19
5.0
- Specialized
62
3.7
- Specialized
21
5.3
364
3.9
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'federal' specifies the level of government and 'deficit' denotes an amount falling short, so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer it means the national government's shortfall. This construction is literal and cross-linguistically common in political vocabulary, making it transparently understandable without prior exposure.
Etymology
Federal deficit comes from two simple words: federal, meaning the national government, and deficit, meaning a lack of money. So it creates the picture of a government with less money than it needs, and that's why federal deficit means 'the amount the government spends that is more than the money it receives'.