Library / English Dictionary

SCARCE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (adjective) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Deficient in quantity or number compared with the demand

Example:

fresh vegetables were scarce during the drought

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

rare (not widely distributed)

tight (affected by scarcity and expensive to borrow)

Also:

meager; meagerly; meagre; scrimpy; stingy (deficient in amount or quality or extent)

Attribute:

quantity (an adequate or large amount)

Antonym:

abundant (present in great quantity)

Derivation:

scarceness; scarcity (a small and inadequate amount)

 II. (adverb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Only a very short time before

Example:

would have scarce arrived before she would have found some excuse to leave

Synonyms:

barely; hardly; just; scarce; scarcely

Classified under:

Adverbs

Sense 2

Meaning:

Almost not

Example:

we were so far back in the theater, we could barely read the subtitles

Synonyms:

barely; hardly; scarce; scarcely

Classified under:

Adverbs

Credits

 Context examples: 

I was at the mathematical school, where the master taught his pupils after a method scarce imaginable to us in Europe.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Over millions of years of evolution, this efficient use of energy provided an essential advantage: when food was scarce, organisms stored rather than burn some of the ingested energy, and they survived longer.

(Some gut cells slow down metabolism, accelerate cardiovascular disease, National Institutes of Health)

Couldn’t make yourself scarce too quick, with several gentlemen you may have heard of looking for you.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Lower phosphate levels pose challenges for algae, which are predicted to suffer as climate change makes ocean nutrients scarcer.

(Study reveals new patterns of key ocean nutrient, National Science Foundation)

“When water is scarce it is prioritised for tasks other than handwashing,” says Sidibe.

(Slightly dirty water ‘still ok’ against coronavirus, SciDev.Net)

Globally important ocean algae called coccolithophores are mysteriously scarce in one of the most productive regions of the Atlantic Ocean.

(Study reveals changing patterns in globally important algae, National Science Foundation)

If the technique were to be scaled up to a large size, it could benefit many developing countries where clean water is scarce, the researchers noted.

(Novel Technology Uses Bacteria for Cleaning Water, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

One of the main forms of nitrogen is nitrate, and although nitrate is scarce in the summer and fall, giant kelp continues to grow year-round.

(Giant kelp switches diet when key nutrient becomes scarce, National Science Foundation)

I had scarce tied the strings of the portfolio, when, looking at his watch, he said abruptly—It is nine o'clock: what are you about, Miss Eyre, to let Adele sit up so long?

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

As he dangled from the hook it was exaggerated and intensified until he was scarce human in his appearance.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)