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scarce
[ skairs ]
adjective
- insufficient to satisfy the need or demand; not abundant:
Meat and butter were scarce during the war.
Synonyms: deficient
Antonyms: abundant
- seldom met with; rare:
a scarce book.
Synonyms: infrequent, uncommon
adverb
scarce
/ skɛəs /
adjective
- rarely encountered
- insufficient to meet the demand
- make oneself scarce informal.to go away, esp suddenly
adverb
- archaic.scarcely
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Derived Forms
- ˈscarceness, noun
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Other Words From
- scarceness noun
- un·scarce adjective
- un·scarcely adverb
- un·scarceness noun
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Word History and Origins
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Word History and Origins
Origin of scarce1
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Idioms and Phrases
- make oneself scarce, Informal.
- to depart, especially suddenly.
- to stay away; avoid.
More idioms and phrases containing scarce
In addition to the idiom beginning with scarce , also see make oneself scarce .Discover More
Example Sentences
The evidence is scarce, but since we don’t have more information, it’s better to be safe than sorry.
The last year was the clearest example yet of what can happen when we allow stable housing options to become scarce.
Larger stones are more scarce, but a larger stone is not necessarily more valuable.
With vaccinations off to a rocky start globally, experts had been counting on a one-dose vaccine that would stretch scarce supplies and avoid the logistics nightmare of getting people to return for boosters.
Food is scarce, and the rodents vigorously attack intruders from other colonies.
Now, visitors are scarce and the jungle is taking over, leaving some locals nostalgic.
We fight over their ownership and control, as if reality were a resource as scarce as the water and oil in Mad Max.
In a country where food was already scarce, slimmed-down portions could be the difference between life and death.
After two decades of war, even the most basic infrastructure is scarce.
Food is becoming scarce, which has led to prices increasing beyond the reach of ordinary people.
And the girl, scarce believing her good fortune, departed with a speed that bordered on the ludicrous.
Fruit-trees are clearly too scarce, though Cherries in abundance were offered for sale as we passed.
Scarce a day passed without some engagement in which the King of Naples showed his audacity and his talent as a leader.
When very scarce, they may sometimes be found, although their structure is not well shown, by the method of Ruge.
But the way was toilsome, the heat intense, and the water scarce—more so than it had been on the outward journey.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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