scarce
Americanadjective
-
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
idioms
adjective
-
rarely encountered
-
insufficient to meet the demand
-
informal to go away, esp suddenly
adverb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of scarce
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English scars, from Old North French (e)scars, from Vulgar Latin excarpsus (unrecorded) “plucked out,” from Latin excerptus; see excerpt
Explanation
If something is scarce, there isn't much of it around. Crops are scarce after a long drought, or you might find babysitters scarce if your kids are a nightmare to watch. Scarce, meaning “restricted in quantity,” can oddly be traced back to the same Latin word that spawned the word "excerpt." Use the word scarce when you want to say that something is hard to find or practically missing. When you know you’re about to be asked to do something unpleasant, like wash the dishes or take out the trash, go ahead and “make yourself scarce,” which means to be elusive or get out of there fast.
Vocabulary lists containing scarce
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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List 3
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100 SAT words Beginning with "S"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The artificial-intelligence investment thesis has always rested on a single claim: The demand is real, the chips are scarce and the cash flows will follow.
From MarketWatch • May 21, 2026
The demand for apartment scouts highlights the pressures of L.A.’s competitive rental market, where vacancy is scarce and rental rates are among the highest in the country.
From Los Angeles Times • May 21, 2026
Combined with faster deoxygenation rates, these conditions increase the likelihood of hypoxia events, when oxygen becomes too scarce to support many forms of aquatic life.
From Science Daily • May 17, 2026
Even used EVs were too expensive and scarce.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 15, 2026
His body was light, the fat burned off from days of scarce food.
From "Pax" by Sara Pennypacker
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.
