Reference > Usage > American Heritage® Book of English Usage > 3. Word Choice > § 190. lack
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The American Heritage® Book of English Usage.
A Practical and Authoritative Guide to Contemporary English.  1996.

3. Word Choice: New Uses, Common Confusion, and Constraints

§ 190. lack


You normally use the verb lack in the sense of “to be wanting or deficient” as the present participle with in: You will not be lacking in support from me. When you use lack in the sense “to be in need of something,” you often use for with it: “In the terrible, beautiful age of my prime, / I lacked for sweet linen but never for time” (E.B. White).    1


The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. Copyright © 1996 by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
 
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