What's the difference between inability and lack?

Inability


Definition:

  • (n.) The quality or state of being unable; lack of ability; want of sufficient power, strength, resources, or capacity.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Technical factors that account for increased difficulty in these patients include: problems with guide catheter impaction and ostial trauma; inability to inflate the balloon with adequate guide catheter support; and need for increased intracoronary manipulation.
  • (2) The mother in Arthur Ransome's children's classic, Swallows and Amazons, is something of a cipher, but her inability to make basic decisions does mean she receives one of the finest telegrams in all literature.
  • (3) Major limitations of the conventional sperm penetration assay are the inability to assess several aspects of sperm function (zona binding and penetration) and the absence of human ovulatory products known to influence fertilization.
  • (4) While cells that were treated with antibody were unable to aggregate because of the inability to destroy cAMP, they aggregated normally when washed free of antibody.
  • (5) Cessation of coital activity was associated with specified types of stress between 65 and 70 years of age in the subgroup of men who had stopped due to inability; six out of eight reported stress against five out of 20 in the C group, P less than 0.05.
  • (6) The patient was referred to the podiatry department because of continued discomfort and the inability to run.
  • (7) Localization of the receptor binding domain within the C-terminal region of PA was suggested by the inability of the monoclonal antibodies 3B6 and 14B7 to recognize the recombinant proteins expressed by C-terminal deletions of the pag gene.
  • (8) The most frequent presentation is the inability to retain the external prosthesis.
  • (9) Fibroblastic cells were characterized by their spindle shape, content of a mucopolysaccharide, their relative inability to synthesize infectious influenza virus, and production of a cell-associated noninfectious hemagglutinin.
  • (10) The determination of circulating biologically active PTH in the rat has been difficult due at least in part to the inability to develop an antibody suitable for RIA of rat PTH.
  • (11) We now provide evidence strongly suggesting that the primary defect in Lec8 and Clone 13 cells is their inability to translocate UDP-galactose into the lumen of the Golgi apparatus.
  • (12) A major limitation of 3-D CT is its inability to reconstruct the pathology of soft tissues with the same fidelity afforded bony structures.
  • (13) The researchers suggested that the inability to establish relationships may be due to a function of methods, sample size, or a reflection of a different population.
  • (14) First, chains are constrained by their inability to penetrate the boundary.
  • (15) The sequence of the murine protein differs from that of the human protein in 10% of residues, and it may be presumed that some of these differences are responsible for the inability of gibbon ape leukemia virus to infect mouse fibroblasts.
  • (16) Thus, children's early difficulty in reading may be one sign of a general inability to selectively attend to the parts of any perceptual wholes.
  • (17) As there is evidence for the relative inability of infants to synthesize taurine, this nitrogen compound has to be wholly supplied by the mother during pregnancy and by diet after birth, particularly for the prematures who have to constitute appreciable reserves in their tissues.
  • (18) The inability of these young smokers to enhance their mucus clearance by cough suggests a change in the mucociliary apparatus from normal.
  • (19) An additional 17 patients considered highly in need of treatment met criteria for commitment based on inability to care for self, but most were hospitalized voluntarily.
  • (20) Phosphoglyceride and triacylglycerol biosynthesis in glycerol kinase deficiency fibroblasts is not diminished by the inability to use glycerol as a precursor of glycerol 3-phosphate.

Lack


Definition:

  • (n.) Blame; cause of blame; fault; crime; offense.
  • (n.) Deficiency; want; need; destitution; failure; as, a lack of sufficient food.
  • (v. t.) To blame; to find fault with.
  • (v. t.) To be without or destitute of; to want; to need.
  • (v. i.) To be wanting; often, impersonally, with of, meaning, to be less than, short, not quite, etc.
  • (v. i.) To be in want.
  • (interj.) Exclamation of regret or surprise.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Here we have asked whether protection from blood-borne antigens afforded by the blood-brain barrier is related to the lack of MHC expression.
  • (2) tRNA from mutant IB13 lacks 5-methylaminomethyl-2-thio-uridine in vivo due to a permanently nonfunctional methyltransferase.
  • (3) BL6 mouse melanoma cells lack detectable H-2Kb and had low levels of expression of H-2Db Ag.
  • (4) Treatment termination due to lack of efficacy or combined insufficient therapeutic response and toxicity proved to be influenced by the initial disease activity and by the rank order of prescription.
  • (5) In the past, the interpretation of the medical findings was hampered by a lack of knowledge of normal anatomy and genital flora in the nonabused prepubertal child.
  • (6) A diplomatic source said the killing appeared particularly unusual because of Farooq lack of recent political activity: "He was lying low in the past two years.
  • (7) The present study examined whether the lack of chronic hemodynamic effects of ANP in control rats was due to changes in vascular reactivity to the peptide.
  • (8) Since it was established, it has stoked controversy about contemporary art, though in recent years it has been more notable forĀ its lack of sensationalism.
  • (9) Inadequate treatment, caused by a lack of drugs and poorly trained medical attendants, is also a major problem.
  • (10) Because of the small number of patients reported in the world literature and lack of controlled studies, the treatment of small cell carcinoma of the larynx remains controversial; this retrospective analysis suggests that combination chemotherapy plus radiation offers the best chance for cure.
  • (11) I would immediately look askance at anyone who lacks the last and possesses the first.
  • (12) The detection of these antibodies is difficult owing to the lack of standardization and of specificity of the laboratory tests.
  • (13) Core enzyme, lacking omega subunit, catalyzed this reaction at a rate less than 1% that of holoenzyme.
  • (14) But not only did it post a larger loss than expected, Amazon also projected 7% to 18% revenue growth over the busiest shopping period of the year, a far cry from the 20%-plus pace that had convinced investors to overlook its persistent lack of profit in the past.
  • (15) Urine specimens from patient REE also contained a light chain fragment that lacked the first (amino-terminal) 85 residues of the native light chain but otherwise was identical in sequence to the light chain REE.
  • (16) Thus the failure to raise anti-Id with internal image characteristics may provide an explanation for the lack of anti-gp120 activity reported in anti-Id antisera raised to multiple anti-CD4 antibodies.
  • (17) His walkout reportedly meant his fellow foreign affairs select committee members could not vote since they lacked a quorum.
  • (18) In South Africa, health risks associated with exposure to toxic waste sites need to be viewed in the context of current community health concerns, competing causes of disease and ill-health, and the relative lack of knowledge about environmental contamination and associated health effects.
  • (19) The functional capacity to present antigens to T cells was lacking in normal resting B cells, but was acquired following LK treatment.
  • (20) These findings indicate an association between HLA-B7 and ankylosing spondylitis in American blacks and suggest that these patients who lack B27 but possess B7 represent a subgroup of patients with this disease.