adam yokluğunda

Turkish

Etymology

From Ottoman Turkish آدم یوقلغی (adam yoḳluġu, “the lack of able men”), from آدم (adam) and یوقلق (yoḳluḳ), equivalent to adam (“man; human being, person”) +‎ yok (“absent, not present, non-existent”) +‎ -luk +‎ -u (possessive suffix) +‎ -(n)da (locative suffix with "n" as buffer consonant), literally “in the abscence of (proper) man”.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aˈdam.jok.luːun.da/
• Hyphenation: a‧dam‧yok‧lu‧ğun‧da

Adverb

adam yokluğunda

1. (figuratively) Used to indicate the manner a person comes by a position purely due to a lack of better options, that the person in question is most likely unqualified or undesired for the position otherwise; vaguely similar to "lesser of two evils".

   Synonym: adam kıtlığında

   • 2013 December, Fuat Cenk ONAT, chapter 4, in Çividen Mürekkebe: Hep Daha Fazlasını İstediler, Cinius Yayınları, →ISBN, page 48:

     Gol atmayı beceremediği için ... ancak adam yokluğunda o da "kaleye geçmek" şartıyla takımda yer alabilen biri ... olarak çocukluğunu geçirmişti.

     As he couldn't manage to score goals, he spent his childhood as someone who could only take part in teams due to lack of players and that with the condition that he "goalkeeps."

Related terms

• adam başı
• adamakıllı
• bilim adamı
• yokluk
• yokluk çekmek

 

Further reading

• “adam yokluğunda”, in Turkish dictionaries, Türk Dil Kurumu