scarce
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(skârs) 
adj., scarc·er, scarc·est.
Barely or hardly; scarcely.
idiom:
adj., scarc·er, scarc·est.
- Insufficient to meet a demand or requirement; short in supply: Fresh vegetables were scarce during the drought.
- Hard to find; absent or rare: Steel pennies are scarce now except in coin shops.
Barely or hardly; scarcely.
idiom:
make (oneself) scarce Informal.
- To stay away; be absent or elusive.
- To depart, especially quickly or furtively; abscond.
[Middle English scars, from Old French scars, from Vulgar Latin *excarpsus, narrow, cramped, from past participle of *excarpere, to pluck out, alteration of Latin excerpere, to pick out. See excerpt.]
scarceness scarce'ness n.WORD HISTORY The words scarce and excerpt illustrate how two words with a common ancestor can diverge from one another in form while passing from one language to another over the centuries. Both words can be traced back to the Latin word excerpere (past participle stem excerpt-), meaning "to pick out," "to pick out mentally," and "to select a passage for quotation." The path is clear and direct from excerpt- to our noun excerpt (first recorded before 1638) and verb (first recorded around 1536), a past participle usage already being recorded in the 15th century. A more tangled path leads to our word scarce. It is assumed that side by side with Latin excerpere existed the Vulgar Latin form *excarpere. *Excarpsus, an adjective formed with the past participle of *excarpere in Vulgar Latin, meant "narrow, cramped," and from this Vulgar Latin form came the Old French word échars, "insufficient, cramped," and "stingy." The Old French word, which existed in a variety of forms, including scars and the chiefly Old North French form escarse, was borrowed into Middle English as scarse, being first recorded in a manuscript written around 1300.
Roget's Thesaurus:
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scarce
adjective
- Not enough to meet a demand or requirement: deficient, inadequate, insufficient, short, shy1, under, wanting. See big/small/amount, excess/insufficiency/enough.
- Rarely occurring or appearing: infrequent, occasional, rare, sporadic, uncommon, unusual. Idioms: few and far between. See usual/unusual.
adverb
- By a very little; almost not: barely, hardly, just, scarcely. See near/far/distance.
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Idioms beginning with scarce:
scarcely ever
scarce as hen's teeth
In addition to the idiom beginning with scarce, also see make oneself scarce.
Antonyms by Answers.com:
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scarce
adj
Definition: insufficient, infrequent
Antonyms: abundant, frequent, plentiful, sufficient
Word Tutor:
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scarce
IN BRIEF: In short supply.
As scarce as truth is, the supply has always been in excess of the demand.
— Josh Billings (1818-1895), American humorist.
LearnThatWord.com is a free vocabulary and spelling program where you only pay for results!
Random House Word Menu:
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categories related to 'scarce'
See crossword solutions for the clue Translations:
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Scarce
Dansk (Danish)
adj. - sjælden, knap
adv. - knap
idioms:
- make oneself scarce stikke af, fordufte, holde sig borte
Français (French)
adj. - peu abondant, rare
adv. - à peine
idioms:
- make oneself scarce s'esquiver, se sauver
Deutsch (German)
adj. - knapp, selten
adv. - kaum
idioms:
- make oneself scarce sich aus dem Staube machen
Ελληνική (Greek)
adj. - σπάνιος, λιγοστός, ανεπαρκής
adv. - σχεδόν καθόλου
idioms:
- make oneself scarce αποχωρώ, αποτραβιέμαι, γίνομαι ακριβοθώρητος
idioms:
- make oneself scarce svignarsela, eclissarsi, rendersi invisibile
Português (Portuguese)
adj. - escasso, insuficiente, raro
adv. - apenas
idioms:
- make oneself scarce manter-se fora da vista
Русский (Russian)
недостаточный, скудный, редкий, редко встречающийся, едва, почти (не), с трудом
idioms:
- make oneself scarce потихоньку улизнуть,"испа- риться", стараться не попадаться на глаза
Español (Spanish)
adj. - escaso
adv. - escasamente, apenas
idioms:
- make oneself scarce esfumarse, no aparecer
Svenska (Swedish)
adj. - otillräcklig, knapp, sällsynt
adv. - knappt, knappast, inte gärna, näppeligen
中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
缺乏的, 稀有的, 珍贵的, 不足的, 仅仅, 几乎没有, 几乎不
idioms:
- make oneself scarce 悄悄离开
中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 缺乏的, 稀有的, 珍貴的, 不足的
adv. - 僅僅, 幾乎沒有, 幾乎不
idioms:
- make oneself scarce 悄悄離開
한국어 (Korean)
adj. - (식량, 금전 등이) 모자라는, 드문, 희귀한
adv. - 겨우, 결코 ~ 아닌
idioms:
- make oneself scarce 슬쩍 나가다, (방해가 안되게) 비키다, 얼굴을 내밀지 않다
日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - 乏しい, 少ない, まれな, 珍しい
العربيه (Arabic)
(صفه) نادر, قليل (ظرف) بصعوبه
עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - מצומצם, נדיר, יקר-המציאות
adv. - בקושי, כמעט שלא
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