Adjacent Words

Scarceness definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SCARCENESS,
SCARCITY, n.
1. Smallness of quantity, or smallness in proportion to the wants or demands; deficiency defeat of plenty; penury; as a scarcity of grain; a great scarcity of beauties; a scarcity of lovely women.
Praise, like gold and diamonds, owes its value to its scarcity.
A scarcity of snow would raise a mutiny at Naples.
2. Rareness; infrequency.
The value of an advantage is enhanced by its scarceness.
Root of scarcity, the mangold-wurzel, a variety of the white beet.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a small and inadequate amount [syn: scarcity, scarceness] [ant: abundance, copiousness, teemingness]

Merriam Webster's

noun see scarce I

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Scarceness Scarce"ness, Scarcity Scar"ci*ty, n. The quality or condition of being scarce; smallness of quantity in proportion to the wants or demands; deficiency; lack of plenty; short supply; penury; as, a scarcity of grain; a great scarcity of beauties. --Chaucer. A scarcity of snow would raise a mutiny at Naples. --Addison. Praise . . . owes its value to its scarcity. --Rambler. The value of an advantage is enhanced by its scarceness. --Collier. Syn: Deficiency; lack; want; penury; dearth; rareness; rarity; infrequency.