Scarce

Definition: Scarce

Scarce

Adjective

1. Not enough; hard to find; "meat was scarce during the war".

2. Deficient in quantity or number compared with the demand; "fresh vegetables were scarce during the drought".

Adverb

1. By a small margin; "they could barely hear the speaker"; "we hardly knew them"; "just missed being hit"; "had scarcely rung the bell when the door flew open"; "would have scarce arrived before she would have found some excuse to leave"- W.B.Yeats.

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "scarce" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1010. (references)

Slang in 1811

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Synonyms: Scarce

Absence

Withdraw, make oneself scarce, vacate; go away.

Avoidance

Beat a retreat; turn tail, turn one's back; take to one's heels; runaway, run for one's life; cut and run; be off like a shot; fly, flee; fly away, flee away, run away from; take flight, take to flight; desert, elope; make off, scamper off, sneak off, shuffle off, sheer off; break away, tear oneself away, slip away, slink away, steel away, make away from, scamper away from, sneak away from, shuffle away from, sheer away from; slip cable, part company, turn one's heel; sneak out of, play truant, give one the go by, give leg bail, take French leave, slope, decamp, flit, bolt, abscond, levant, skedaddle, absquatulate, cut one's stick, walk one's chalks, show a light pair of heels, make oneself scarce; escape; go away; (depart); abandon; reject.

Infrequency

Scarce as hen's teeth; one in a million; few and far between.

Adjective: unfrequent, infrequent; rare, rare as a blue diamond; few; scarce; almost unheard of, unprecedented, which has not occurred within the memory of the oldest inhabitant, not within one's previous experience; not since Adam.

Insufficiency

Scant; (small); scarce; not to be had, not to be had for love or money, not to be had at any price; scurvy; stingy; at the end of one's tether; without resources; in want; (poor); in debt.

Crosswords: Scarce

Some day they may be scarce. (Casablanca; writing credit: Murray Burnett; Joan Alison)

Yeah, blondes are scarce around here (King Kong; writing credit: Merian C. Cooper; Edgar Wallace)

They didn't last very long and they've been pretty scarce (Lay All Your Love On Me; performing artist: Abba)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Books

• Lectures on Political Economy: London School of Economics (LSE: Scarce Tracts in Economics) (reference)

• Scarce Goods: Justice, Fairness, and Organ Transplantation (reference)

• Tours in England and Wales: London School of Economics (LSE: Scarce Tracts in Economics) (reference)

• Water rights : scarce resource allocation, bureaucracy, and the environment (reference)

• A Select Collection of Scarce and Valuable Tracts and Other Publications on Currency and Banking (reference)

  (more book examples)

Music

• Scarce Saints: Hymns of Oblivion (reference)

  (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Beds of Conch move en masse when food gets scarce. Credit: National Undersea Research Program (NURP).

Johannes Bulwer, cognomento Chirosophus, alias Philocophus. / Engraved by T. Berry from a scarce print by Faithorne. Credit: National Library of Medicine.

Ralph Bathurst / From a scarce Print by Loggan. Credit: National Library of Medicine.

Places to live being very scarce, miners must sometimes wait on main country roads for help from others with all their belongings. No job, no home. Mohegan, West Virginia. Credit: Library of Congress.

Bathrooms are scarce. Farm of ex mill-worker. Bonner County, Idaho. See general caption 49. Credit: Library of Congress.

Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Thus it was easy, and almost natural for children, by a tacit, and scarce avoidable consent, to make way for the father's authority and government. (Second Treatise of Government)

The bourgeoisie, during its rule of scarce one hundred years, has created more massive and more colossal productive forces than have all preceding generations together. (reference)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

But water was scarce there on account of the height of the plateau

The water grew scarce, water was to be bought, five cents, ten cents, fifteen cents a gallon

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

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Health

Some stem cells circulate in the blood, but they are scarce and difficult to extract. (references)

Although theoretic reasons exist to lower the age of implantation in children, data are too scarce to justify a change in criteria. (references)

Since CF is a genetic disease, the only way to prevent or cure it would be with gene therapy at an early age. Ideally, gene therapy could repair or replace the defective gene. Another option for treatment would be to give a person with CF the active form of the protein product that is scarce or missing. (references)

Business

Expensive and scarce credit is forcing many companies to give greater weight to financing when acquiring imported products. (references)

Accurate data on imports is scarce, and environmental related equipment does not fit cleanly into standard Customs classifications. (references)

While 20 general insurance companies make up 50 percent of the market, the 100 companies ranked at the bottom account for a scarce 10 percent of all earnings. (references)

Children

Romania

The Government administers health care and public education programs for children, despite scarce domestic resources. (references)

Zimbabwe

However, in practice the lack of resources for training and education severely hampers the ability of persons with disabilities to compete for scarce jobs. (references)

Cameroon

In June the Cooperative of the Handicapped Persons of Cameroon occupied two abandoned government residences in Yaounde and Douala in order to have locations where the cooperative could lead its social activities in lieu of scarce resources. (references)

Civil Liberties

Liberia

Some non-Muslims criticized this action as a waste of scarce resources. (references)

Korea

Conditions in these camps are harsh; food is scarce; and discipline is severe. (references)

Honduras

It competes directly with rival publications for scarce revenues from advertising, much of which comes from the Government itself. (references)

Economic History

Brazil

The use of pre-manufactured products was scarce. (references)

Nepal

Foreign commercial lending is also scarce and expensive. (references)

South Africa

Unskilled labor is abundant, but highly skilled labor is scarce. (references)

Human Rights

Bolivia

Rehabilitation programs for juveniles or other prisoners are scarce to nonexistent. (references)

Russia

Resources for human rights work are scarce; most groups rely on foreign support in the form of grants to maintain operations. (references)

Philippines

The Public Attorney's Office (PAO) is staffed by highly skilled and motivated defense lawyers, but the workload is great and resources are scarce. (references)

Indigenous People

Ecuador

Land is scarce in the more heavily populated highland areas, where high infant mortality, malnutrition, and epidemic disease are common. (references)

Minorities

Bahamas

However, reports of ethnic violence or blatant discrimination against legally resident Haitians are scarce. (references)

Political Economy

JAMAICA

Scarce resources and a narrow legal definition of the term "factory" combine to limit inspections. (references)

Trade

Guinea

Commercial interest rates are very high, averaging 25-30%. Commercial loans, thus, are scarce and expensive. (references)

Burma

The GOB's motivation for many of these restrictions appears to be an effort to capture scarce foreign exchange. (references)

Uzbekistan

The system aims to ensure that scarce foreign currency is used primarily to import capital rather than consumer goods. (references)

Travel

Chad

Housing: Residential housing is generally scarce and poor in quality. (references)

Chad

Modern houses and apartments are scarce and most are below U.S./European norms. (references)

Chad

This laterite road is sometimes well maintained but periodically falls into disrepair when funding is scarce. (references)

Women

Solomon Islands

While actual statistics are scarce, incidents of domestic violence appear to be common. (references)

Worker Rights

Guatemala

The Labor Ministry provides training courses for labor inspectors in health and safety standards, and has given such training priority despite scarce resources. (references)

Bangladesh

The Factories Act and Shops and Establishments Act establish inspection mechanisms to enforce laws against forced labor; however, these laws are not enforced rigorously, partly because resources for enforcement are scarce. (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Expressions using "scarce": make one's scarce ♦ make oneself scarce ♦ scarce as hen's teeth ♦ scarce currency ♦ scarce goods ♦ To make one's self scarce. Additional references.

Beginning with "scarce": scarce-currency, scarce-perceptible.

Ending with "scarce": land-scarce.

Afrikaans

karig (in short supply, scanty). (various references)

Albanian

i vogël (baby, diminutive, exiguous, Ling, little, one horse, paltry, peripheral, petit, petty, pimping, pocket-size, poky, reckling, scant, scanty, scrimpy, small, trivial, undersized), i rrallë (curious, far between, infrequent, out of the way, rare, singular, sparse, stray, thin, uncommon, unwonted), i pamjaftueshëm (defective, deficient, inadequate, insufficient, scant, scanty, short, sparing), i pakët (exiguous, few, lean, limited, little, low, marginal, meager, meagre, measly, modest, narrow, picayune, poor, scant, scanty, scrimpy, skimpy, slender, small, spare, sparing, thin, wee). (various references)

Arabic 

‏نادر (anecdotic, close, exceptional, exceptive, few and far between, infrequent, out of the ordinary, phenomenal, rare, recherche, tight, uncommon, unusual), ‏قليل (few, little, slight, small), ‏شحيح (mean, mingy, miserly, penury, piker, scant, sordid, stingy), ‏بشق الأنفس (just, scarcely, terribly, very hard, with greatest difficulty). (various references)

Bulgarian 

тъкмо (flat, just, right, scarcely), който рядко се среща, оскъден (beggarly, exiguous, insufficient, jejune, lean, meager, meagre, penurious, scant, scanty, scrimpy, short, skimpy, skinny, spare, sparing, starveling, stingy, thin, tight), недостатъчен (deficient, exiguous, imperfect, inadequate, incommensurate, insufficient, scanty, short, skimpy, slender, slim, wanting), едва що (hardly, scarcely), едва ли (hardly, ill, scarcely), едва (barely, but, faintly, fine, hardly, just, lightly, narrowly, scarcely), дефицитен (in short supply, tight). (various references)

Chinese 

缺乏 (Dearth, Deficiencies, Deficiency, lack, Lacked, lacking, scant, scarcity), 缺 (lack, to run short of, vacant post). (various references)

Czech

vzácný (few and far between, infrequent, minor, noble, precious, rare, uncommon, valuable), nedostatkový (in short supply), řídký (far between, few and far between, infrequent, rare, runny, sparse, tenuous, thin, washy), úzkoprofilový. (various references)

Danish

knap valuta (scarce currency), guldgul frostmaaler (scarce umber, scarce umber moth), Amerikansk bomuldsugle (American bollworm, bollworm, Corn earworm, Cotton bollworm, earworm, gram Caterpillar, grub tomato, Scarce bordered straw moth, tobacco budworm, Tomato caterpillar, Tomato fruitworm, Tomato grub). (various references)

Dutch

schriel (gaunt, in short supply, scanty, thin), schraal (barren, coarse, gaunt, in short supply, infertile, lean, meager, rough, scanty, skimpy, skinny, slender, thin), schaars (in short supply, rare, scanty), karig (diminutive, in short supply, little, scanty, small). (various references)

Farsi 

نادر (Curious, Infrequent, Rare, Uncommon), ندرتا (Seldom, Short), کمیاب (Curiosity, Infrequent, Rare, Uncommon), کم (Infrequent, Junior, Light, Little, Low, Marginal, Rare, Remote, Scant, Scanty, Scrimpy, Skimp, Slender, Slight, Small), قلیل (Scant, Scrimp, Skimpy, Slender, Slight), تنگ (Close, Cruse, Decanter, Disgrace, Narrow, Shoal, Strait), اندک (Lean, Light, Little, Low, Margin, Modicum, Paucity, Pinch, Scant, Scantling, Scrimp, Scruple, Skimpy, Slight, Whit). (various references)

Finnish

niukka (scanty). (various references)

French

rare, insuffisant (scant, scanty). (various references)

German

selten (exceptionally, infrequent, once in a blue moon, precious, rare, rarely, seldom, seldomly, uncommon, unusual, unusually), knapp (almost, bald, bare, barely, barely sufficient, close, concise, concisely, crisp, curtly, just, just enough, laconic, laconically, lean, low, meager, meagre, narrow, pithy, rare, scantily, scantly, scanty, scarcely, scrimpy, short, skimpily, skimpy, slender, stinted, summarily, taut, tautly, terse, tersely, tight, tightly). (various references)

Greek 

σπάνιοσ (infrequent, rare), σπάνιος (rare, thin on the ground). (various references)

Hebrew 

מצומצם (accurate, bare, contracted, limited, narrow, reduced, scanty, skimpy), יקר �"מציאות (rare), �"חוק (hard up, narrow, strained, tight), � �"יר (infrequent, rare, uncommon, unusual). (various references)

Hungarian

elégtelen (below the line, deficient, dissatisfactory, inadequate, insufficient, scanty, underdose, unsatisfactory), ritka (infrequent, moderate turbulence in clear air, moderate turbulence in cloud, rare, severe turbulence in clear air, severe turbulence in cloud, sparse, straggling, tenuous, thin, uncommon), kevés (a little, bare, be short of by, exiguous, few, little, little if any, little or no, scant, slight, slim, tight). (various references)

Indonesian

langka (rare), jarang (infrequent, rare, seldom, sporadic). (various references)

Italian

scarso (failing, jejune, low, meager, meagre, penurious, poor, scant, scantily, scanty, skimpily, skimpy, slender, slight, slim, small, sparse, thin, tight, weak), raro (infrequent, rare, rarely, uncommon, unfrequent, unusual, unusually). (various references)

Japanese Kanji 

乏しい (destitute, hard up, limited, meagre), 少ない (a little, few, insufficient, seldom). (various references)

Japanese Katakana 

すくない (a little, few, insufficient, seldom), きしょう (badge, beauty spot, climate, damage, disposition, emblem, getting out of bed, happy laughter, injury, insignia, medal, memorizing, rare, rising, temperament, unexpected victory, victory by uncommon stratagem, vow, weather), とぼしい (destitute, hard up, limited, meagre, poor, scanty), ともしい (destitute, hard up, limited, meagre, poor, scanty). (various references)

Korean 

부족한 (insufficient, scant, scanty, sparse). (various references)

Manx

tiark (few, rare, scanty, short, sparse, sporadic, tight, tight of money), neuhonnyssagh, goaun, goan (address, address words, expression, meagre, rare, scant, short, slender, spare, sparse, thin, thin of hair, tight, tight of money, utterance, word, word speech), chiark. (various references)

Pig Latin

arcescay.(various references)

Portuguese

raro (close, exquisite, infrequent, out-and-out, rare, rose, scant, scanty, seldom, sparse, sporadic, tight, uncommon, unique, unusual, unwonted), insuficiente (dissatisfactory, inadequate, inefficient, insufficient, narrow, scant, scanty, short, slim, starveling, unsatisfying, wanting), escasso (close-fisted, lenten, low, meager, meagre, penurious, scant, scanty, short, slim, spare, sparing, sparse, thin, tight). (various references)

Romanian

rar (choice, exceptional, far between, infrequent, lank, lanky, occasionally, rare, scanty, scattered, seldom, slowly, sparse, thin, thinly, uncommon, unusual), nevãzut (invisible, unseen, viewless), neîndestulãtor (inadequate, insufficient, reduced, scant, slender, small, spare), insuficient (defective, deficient, exiguous, inadequate, inadequately, inappropriate, insufficient, insufficiently, meager, meagre, poor, scant, scanty, unsatisfactorily), greu de gãsit (out of the way). (various references)

Russian 

редкий (far between, far-between, infrequent, occasional, out of print, rare, sparse, thin, uncommon, unusual). (various references)

Scottish

tearc (few, rare, unusual), gann (ere scarce, rare : mu'n gann, scarcely), annamh (rare, seldom), ainmig (rare, seldom). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian

teškom mukom, redak (infrequent, rare, spare, sparse, thin), oskudan (barren, deficient, destitute, exiguous, meager, meagre, necessitous, needy, penurious, poor, scant, scanty, short, shy, skimpy, spare, sparing, stingy, stringent, tight), jedva (barely, faintly, hairbreadth, hardly, near, scarcely), deficitaran. (various references)

Spanish

raro (curious, Dandy, definite, dignified, dingy, droll, exotic, extraordinary, extravagant, few and far between, frothy, funny, ichneumon, infrequent, lead, odd, oddball, oddish, odds-on, outlandishness, peculiar, queerish, quirky, rare, rum, singular, strange, uncanny, unusual, vintage, weird), poco común (extraordinary, local, rare, uncommon), escaso (bare, insufficient, limited, little, low, lower, meager, meagre, mingy, poor, scant, scanty, scrimpy, short, shy, skimpy, slender, slight, slim, small, sparing, sparse, thin, tight, tightfisted, ungenerous), cenido (scant, scanty, skimpily, skimpy), apenas (barely, hardily, hardly, just, only just, scarcely). (various references)

Swedish

sällsynt (infrequent, rare, unwonted), knapp (button, exiguous, knob, low, narrow, parsimonious, scant, scanty, skimpy, stud, tight). (various references)

Turkish

seyrek (few and far between, infrequent, rare, scattered, seldom, sparse, straggly, tenuous, thin), sınırlı (contracted, determinate, finite, limited, ltd, measurable, narrow, parochial, restricted, scant, scanty, slender, stinted, Strait), zor bulunur, nadir (exceptional, few and far between, infrequent, rare, uncommon, unusual, unwonted), kıt (close, constricted, droughty, exiguous, few, lean, limited, meager, meagre, penurious, scant, scanty, scrimpy, short, skimp, skimpy, stingy), az bulunur (infrequent, rare). (various references)

Ukrainian

рідкісний (few, infrequent, occasional, offbeat, out of the way, rare), недостатній (defective, deficient, meager, meagre, poor, scrimpy, short, skimpy, wanting), насилу (hardly, scarcely), навряд чи (scarcely, unlikely), ледве (barely, but, hardly, ill, narrowly, scarcely, some). (various references)

Vietnamese 

thiếu (deficient, incomplete, insufficient, missing, privative, scanty, unfurnished), khan hiếm, ít có (uncustomary, unfrequent, unwonted). (various references)

Welsh

prin (bare, barely, hardly, only just, rare, scarcely). (various references)

Agriopis aurantiaria, arta, artis, arto, artum, artus, Chloridea obsoleta, Erannis aurantiaria, Erannus aurantiaria, excerpere, Helicoverpa armigera, Helicoverpa zea, Heliothis armigera, Heliothis obsoleta, Heliothis zea, Hibernia aurantiaria, Hybernia aurantiaria, Illinoia funestus, Macrosiphon funestus, Macrosiphum funestum, Macrosiphum rubifolium, Macrosiphum shelkovnikovi, Nectarophora funestus, Siphonophora funestus. (various references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Derivations

Words beginning with "scarce": scarcely, scarceness, scarcenesses, scarcer, scarcest. (additional references)

Misspellings

"Scarce" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: carce, sacarce, Sacree, sarce, sarcy, Sarice, scace, Scalco, scarcy, scarde, scarece, scarem, Scarle, scarpe, scarse, scarve, Scarvee, scearce, Sciaco, Scrace, scrade, Scrase, scrate, skance, sparce, suare. (additional references)

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

-1 letter: acres, cares, carse, escar, races, scare, serac.

-2 letters: aces, acre, arcs, ares, arse, care, cars, case, ceca, ears, eras, race, rase, recs, scar, sear, sera.

-3 letters: ace, arc, are, ars, car, ear, era, ers, ras, rec, res, sac, sae, sea, sec, ser.

-4 letters: ae, ar, as, er, es, re.

+1 letter: accrues, accuser, cancers, carcase, carcels, carices, scarcer.

+2 letters: acceders, accretes, accursed, accusers, breccias, cacklers, caesuric, caprices, carcases, cardcase, caroches, catchers, ceramics, chancres, clackers, coachers, coracles, crackers, crackles, cranches, cratches, curacies, ectosarc, reaccuse, scarcely, scarcest.

+3 letters: accentors, accepters, acceptors, accessary, accessory, accorders, accouters, accoutres, accredits, acrolects, airchecks, arccosine, cancelers, cancerous, caracoles, carapaces, carcanets, carcasses, cardcases, caroaches, carroches, caruncles, celeriacs, cercarias, chicaners, clarences, clericals, cocineras, cocreates, corncakes, coruscate, cracknels, cracksmen, crankcase, craunches, creamcups, crustacea, cyclecars, ectosarcs, jackscrew, peccaries, practices, reaccedes, reaccents, reaccepts, reaccused, reaccuses, recusancy, ricercars, sacrifice, scarecrow, scorecard, scraiched, scratched, scratcher, scratches, wisecrack.