Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Insufficient to meet a demand or requirement; short in supply.
- adjective Hard to find; absent or rare.
- adverb Barely or hardly; scarcely.
- idiom (make (oneself) scarce) To stay away; be absent or elusive.
- idiom (make (oneself) scarce) To depart, especially quickly or furtively; abscond.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To make less; diminish; make scant.
- Hardly; barely; scarcely.
- Sparing; parsimonious; niggard; niggardly; stingy.
- Scantily supplied; poorly provided; not having much: sometimes with of.
- Diminished; reduced from the original or the proper size or measure; deficient; short.
- Deficient in quantity or number; insufficient for the need or demand; scant; scanty; not abundant.
- Few in number; seldom seen; infrequent; uncommon; rare: as, scarce coins; a scarce book.
- Characterized by scarcity, especially of provisions, or the necessaries of life.
- Synonyms and Rare, Scarce. See
rare .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon.
- adjective obsolete Scantily supplied (with); deficient (in); -- with
of . - adjective obsolete Sparing; frugal; parsimonious; stingy.
- adjective [Slang] to decamp; to depart.
- adverb With difficulty; hardly; scantly; barely; but just.
- adverb obsolete Frugally; penuriously.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective
Uncommon , rare;difficult to find;insufficient to meet ademand . - adverb now literary, archaic
Scarcely ,only just .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective deficient in quantity or number compared with the demand
- adverb only a very short time before
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Thus, _If cats are scarce, mice are plentiful_, contains two verbal clauses; but _if cats are scarce_ is conditional, not indicative; and _mice are plentiful_ is subject to the condition that _cats are scarce_.
Logic Deductive and Inductive Carveth Read 1889
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A quarter century had passed since Douglas had hired the Court's first female clerk; that was during World War II, when male law students were in scarce supply.
Excerpts from 'Justice Brennan: Liberal Champion' by Seth Stern and Stephen Wermiel 2010
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Still, economists expect jobs likely will remain scarce even as the economy improves.
Department of Labor: unemployment rate 10.2%. - Moe_Lane’s blog - RedState 2009
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Unfortunately, deals are in scarce supply from wineries directly.
Napa Valley struggles to escape “time warp”! | Dr Vino's wine blog 2010
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Unfortunately, deals are in scarce supply from wineries directly.
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Of course, this hoarding is one of the reasons certain scarce items disappear but better they disappear in my pantry than someone elses.
Page 2 2007
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Of course, this hoarding is one of the reasons certain scarce items disappear but better they disappear in my pantry than someone elses.
Page 2 2007
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Of course, this hoarding is one of the reasons certain scarce items disappear but better they disappear in my pantry than someone elses.
Page 2 2007
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I think it will turn into another argument over how scarce is the ammo?
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Environmental destruction will increase social problems as communities and individuals fight with one another to obtain scarce resources such as water.
David Livingstone’s Vision Revisited: Christianity, Commerce and Civilization in the 21st Century 2007
reesetee commented on the word scarce
In the rare book field, a scarce publication traditionally isn't as hard to find as a rare publication, but it might take a few years to locate.
February 25, 2008
Kristianto2010 commented on the word scarce
For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with brooks, streams, and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills; a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; a land where bread will not be SCARCE and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills. Deuteronomy 8:7~9.
March 9, 2011
pterodactyl commented on the word scarce
Did I just find another rhymeless word?
May 2, 2016
alexz commented on the word scarce
The 1909 Rhymester says it has no rhyme.
https://books.google.ca/books?id=v8ZZAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA134
May 2, 2016
bilby commented on the word scarce
Well, yes and no.
In my accent, scarce rhymes with yes.
May 2, 2016
qms commented on the word scarce
And I think in some parts of Ireland words such as fierce and immerse would rhyme with scarce. This will require some thought. Meanwhile,
I'll search for consonant pairs
That work without putting on airs.
Though maybe not crisp,
If you have a lisp
The rhymes are not really that scarce.
May 2, 2016
madmouth commented on the word scarce
fierce
MERS
May 2, 2016