Adjacent Words

Scarce definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SCARCE, a.
1. Not plentiful or abundant; being in small quantity in proportion to the demand. We say, water is scarce, wheat, rye, barley is scarce, money is scarce, when the quantity is not fully adequate to the demand.
2. Being few in number and scattered; rare; uncommon. Good horses are scarce.
The scarcest of all is a Pescennius Niger on a medallion well preserved.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: deficient in quantity or number compared with the demand; "fresh vegetables were scarce during the drought" [ant: abundant] adv
1: only a very short time before; "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 [syn: barely, hardly, just, scarcely, scarce]

Merriam Webster's

I. adjective (scarcer; scarcest) Etymology: Middle English scars, from Anglo-French eschars, escars narrow, stingy, deficient, from Vulgar Latin *excarpsus, literally, plucked out, past participle of Latin excerpere to pluck out — more at excerpt Date: 14th century 1. deficient in quantity or number compared with the demand ; not plentiful or abundant 2. intentionally absent <made himself scarce at inspection time> Synonyms: see infrequent • scarceness noun II. adverb Date: 15th century scarcely, hardly <scarce was independence half a century old, when a…split occurred — John McPhee>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. & adv. --adj. 1 (usu. predic.) (esp. of food, money, etc.) insufficient for the demand; scanty. 2 hard to find; rare. --adv. archaic or literary scarcely. Phrases and idioms: make oneself scarce colloq. keep out of the way; surreptitiously disappear. Derivatives: scarceness n. Etymology: ME f. AF & ONF (e)scars, OF eschars f. L excerpere: see EXCERPT

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Scarce Scarce (sk[^a]rs), a. [Compar. Scarcer (sk[^a]r"s[~e]r); superl. Scarcest.] [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, excarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See Carpet, and cf. Excerp.] 1. Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. You tell him silver is scarcer now in England, and therefore risen one fifth in value. --Locke. The scarcest of all is a Pescennius Niger on a medallion well preserved. --Addison. 2. Scantily supplied (with); deficient (in); -- with of. [Obs.] ``A region scarce of prey.'' --Milton. 3. Sparing; frugal; parsimonious; stingy. [Obs.] ``Too scarce ne too sparing.'' --Chaucer. To make one's self scarce, to decamp; to depart. [Slang] Syn: Rare; infrequent; deficient. See Rare.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Scarce Scarce, Scarcely Scarce"ly, adv. 1. With difficulty; hardly; scantly; barely; but just. With a scarce well-lighted flame. --Milton. The eldest scarcely five year was of age. --Chaucer. Slowly she sails, and scarcely stems the tides. --Dryden. He had scarcely finished, when the laborer arrived who had been sent for my ransom. --W. Irving. 2. Frugally; penuriously. [Obs.] --Chaucer.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(scarcer, scarcest) 1. If something is scarce, there is not enough of it. Food was scarce and expensive... ...the allocation of scarce resources. ADJ: usu v-link ADJ 2. If you make yourself scarce, you quickly leave the place you are in, usually in order to avoid a difficult or embarrassing situation. (INFORMAL) It probably would be a good idea if you made yourself scarce. PHRASE: V inflects

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. a. 1. Deficient, wanting, not plentiful, not abundant. 2. Rare, uncommon, infrequent. II. ad.; (also scarcely) Hardly, barely, but just, with difficulty, scantly.

1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

To make one's self scarce; to steal away.

Moby Thesaurus

almost unheard-of, at a premium, barely, cheeseparing, chinchy, chintzy, curtailed, deficient, exiguous, failing, few, hardly, in short supply, inadequate, infrequent, insufficient, lacking, meager, miserly, niggardly, occasional, out of print, out of season, out of stock, piddling, poor, rare, scant, scanty, scarcely, scattered, scrimping, scrimpy, seldom, seldom met with, seldom seen, shortened, shy, skimping, skimpy, slim, slow, sparse, sporadic, spotty, sprinkled, stingy, thin, tight, truncated, uncommon, unfrequent, unique, unusual, wanting