scarce
scarce Lexical Profile
scarce Game Scores & Validity
• adjective
Insufficient in quantity or availability to satisfy demand or need (especially of food, money, or natural resources).
"Fresh water becomes increasingly scarce in the region during the long summer drought."
Rarely found, seen, or encountered; uncommon.
"Reliable historical records from that particular century are remarkably scarce."
• adverb
Hardly, barely, or only just (used primarily in literary or archaic contexts).
"They had scarce begun their journey up the mountain when the heavy fog rolled in."
Word Nuance & Usage
While 'scarce' primarily describes things that are insufficient to meet demand (such as water or food), 'rare' describes things that are uncommon in absolute numbers without necessarily implying a shortage. As an adverb, the inflected form 'scarcely' is the standard choice in modern English, whereas 'scarce' is limited to literary or poetic contexts.
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed into Middle English from Anglo-Norman 'escarce', from Old Northern French 'escars', which traces back to Vulgar Latin '*excarpsus' ('plucked out, choice, limited'), from the Latin verb 'excerpere' ('to pluck out').