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Deficit vs Surplus - What's the difference?

deficit | surplus | Antonyms |

Surplus is a antonym of deficit.



As nouns the difference between deficit and surplus

is that deficit is deficiency in amount or quality; a falling short; lack while surplus is that which remains when use or need is satisfied, or when a limit is reached; excess; overplus.

As an adjective surplus is

being or constituting a surplus; more than sufficient; as, surplus revenues; surplus population; surplus words.

deficit

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • Deficiency in amount or quality; a falling short; lack.
  • A situation wherein, or amount whereby, spending exceeds government revenue.
  • * 2013 September 28, , " London Is Special, but Not That Special," New York Times (retrieved 28 September 2013):
    • Economically, too, London is startlingly different. The capital, unlike the country as a whole, has no budget deficit : London’s public spending matches the taxes paid in the city. The average Londoner contributes 70 percent more to Britain’s national income than people in the rest of the country.
  • *

    • Synonyms

    * fiscal deficit

    Derived terms

    * fiscal deficit * trade deficit

    Related terms

    * defect * defection * defective * defector * deficiency * deficient

    External links

    * (wikipedia)

    References

    * ----

    surplus

    English

    Noun

    (en-noun)
  • That which remains when use or need is satisfied, or when a limit is reached; excess; overplus.
  • Specifically, an amount in the public treasury at any time greater than is required for the ordinary purposes of the government.
  • (legal) The remainder of a fund appropriated for a particular purpose.
  • (legal) assets left after liabilities and debts, including capital stock have been deducted.

    • Antonyms

    * lack * deficit

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Being or constituting a surplus; more than sufficient; as, surplus revenues; surplus population; surplus words.
  • * {{quote-magazine, title=A better waterworks, date=2013-06-01, volume=407, issue=8838
    • , page=5 (Technology Quarterly), magazine=(The Economist) citation , passage=An artificial kidney these days still means a refrigerator-sized dialysis machine. Such devices mimic the way real kidneys cleanse blood and eject impurities and surplus water as urine.}}