understaffed

adjective/ˌʌndərˈstæft/

Frequency rank: #18,918 of 20,003 in the WORDED list (wordfreq data)

Meaning

Having fewer staff members than needed to operate properly.

Illustration for the English word “understaffed”

Example sentence

The hospital was critically understaffed during the holiday season, so nurses had to work double shifts.

Synonyms & related words

More words in ranks 18,901–19,000