scarce
Americanadjective
-
scarcer,
comparative
-
scarcest
superlative
-
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
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
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
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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.
See Examples For:
Large areas close to Yellowstone remain evacuated, while across the US, shelter, fuel, food and clean water become increasingly scarce.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 22, 2026
Karim Fawaz, executive director at S&P Global Energy, warned in the analysis that “Inventories are low, spare refining capacity is scarce, and seasonal demand is about to strengthen at exactly the wrong moment.”
From Salon ● Sep. 19, 2026
However, details of Carney's proposed plans for greater ties with the EU are scarce.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
If entry-level positions become scarce, simply earning a degree will no longer provide sufficient preparation for a career.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
She told us how, long ago, paper was scarce so women cut up old letters and newspaper articles to make patterns, then stuffed the paper between the quilt layers for extra insulation.
From "Hope Springs" by Jaime Berry
For most conditions, the evidence remains scarcer than it is for obesity, diabetes, and the other conditions for which GLP-1 drugs have been approved.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
Local-content rules make the eligible supply even scarcer.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 10, 2026
By the time the next crew swapped with his that afternoon, they were scarcer: “One every 30 minutes, roughly,” Ulibarri recalled.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 11, 2026
If major food-producing regions were hit, some foods would become scarcer, driving up prices globally and potentially restricting choice, the report says.
From BBC ● Jan. 21, 2026
Game had become scarcer since the snows began to fall, but last night they had feasted.
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
But periodically investors get a reminder that one of the scarcest AI resources is top talent.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 20, 2026
Hatakeyama compares this to an updated version of Liebig's famous barrel analogy, in which a plant's growth is limited by its shortest stave, representing the scarcest resource.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 11, 2025
The scarcest resource in the AI arms race is access to computing, which is why OpenAI and others are pledging to spend trillions of dollars in the coming years to make sure the capacity expands.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 19, 2025
It can also have the most significant impact on water levels, as it happens at the time of year when water is scarcest.
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2022
Ones with western exposure—that is, with doors and ventilators opening on the side away from the enemy seem scarcest.
From "And they thought we wouldn't fight" by Floyd Gibbons
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.
