Dictionary.com
definitions

scarcity

[skair-si-tee]
||
SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR scarcity ON THESAURUS.COM

noun, plural scar·ci·ties.

insufficiency or shortness of supply; dearth.
rarity; infrequency.

RELATED CONTENT

Haiku Shows Poetry Doesn’t Need To Be ComplicatedThese examples of haiku show that the most beautiful poetry may be the simplest.
READ MORE
The Amelioration of a Term: LeanAs the Ides of March rolls along, minds turn to Julius Caesar, whose assassination occurred on March 15 in 44 BCE. William Shakespeare tells one of the most popular fictionalized accounts of this famous Roman’s life in his play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, first performed in 1599. Of its many memorable lines, perhaps the most famous is “Beware the Ides of March.” However, we …
READ MORE

RELATED WORDS

paucity, lack, inadequacy, dearth, famine, insufficiency, shortage, drought, stringency, infrequency, scantiness, rarity, want, sparsity, exiguity

Nearby words

  1. scarce,
  2. scarce as hen's teeth,
  3. scarcely,
  4. scarcely ever,
  5. scarcement,
  6. scare,
  7. scare out of one's wits,
  8. scare quotes,
  9. scare up,
  10. scarecrow

Origin of scarcity

1300–50; Middle English scarsete(e) < Old North French escarsete. See scarce, -ity
Related formsnon·scar·ci·ty, noun, plural non·scar·ci·ties.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for scarcity

British Dictionary definitions for scarcity

scarcity

noun plural -ties

inadequate supply; dearth; paucity
rarity or infrequent occurrence
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for scarcity

scarcity

n.

c.1300, from Old North French escarcete (Old French escharsete), from eschars (see scarce).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Culture definitions for scarcity

scarcity

The basic problem on which classical economic theory is built: simply, that human wants will always exceed the resources available to fulfill those wants. This tenet was challenged by the rise of what John Kenneth Galbraith described as the affluent society.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.