noun

a scarcity or lack of something.

there is a dearth of evidence

lack,scarcity,scarceness,shortage,shortfall,want,deficiency,insufficiency,inadequacy,paucity,sparseness,meagreness,scantiness,rareness,infrequency,uncommonness,destitution,privation,famine,drought,poverty,absence,non-existence,exiguity,exiguousness