[1] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

scarce \scarce\, scarcely \scarce"ly\, adv.
   1. with difficulty; hardly; scantly; barely; but just.
      1913 webster

            with a scarce well-lighted flame.     --milton.
      1913 webster

            the eldest scarcely five year was of age. --chaucer.
      1913 webster

            slowly she sails, and scarcely stems the tides.
                                                  --dryden.
      1913 webster

            he had scarcely finished, when the laborer arrived
            who had been sent for my ransom.      --w. irving.
      1913 webster

   2. frugally; penuriously. obs. --chaucer.
      1913 webster

[2] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

scarce \scarce\ sk^ars, a. compar. scarcer
   sk^ar"s~er; superl. scarcest. oe. scars, of.
   escars, eschars, ll. scarpsus, excarpsus, for l. excerptus,
   p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to
   shorten; ex see ex- + carpere. see carpet, and cf.
   excerp.
   1. not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion
      to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon.
      1913 webster

            you tell him silver is scarcer now in england, and
            therefore risen one fifth in value.   --locke.
      1913 webster

            the scarcest of all is a pescennius niger on a
            medallion well preserved.             --addison.
      1913 webster

   2. scantily supplied with; deficient in; -- with of.
      obs. "a region scarce of prey." --milton.
      1913 webster

   3. sparing; frugal; parsimonious; stingy. obs. "too scarce
      ne too sparing." --chaucer.
      1913 webster

   to make one's self scarce, to decamp; to depart. slang
      1913 webster

   syn: rare; infrequent; deficient. see rare.
        1913 webster scarce
see also:
scarcer scarcest ex- carpet excerp to make one's self scarce 
rare 

[3] : WordNet (r) 2.0

scarce
     adj 1: not enough; hard to find; "meat was scarce during the war"
     2: deficient in quantity or number compared with the demand;
        "fresh vegetables were scarce during the drought" ant: abundant
     adv : by a small margin; "they could barely hear the speaker"; "we
           hardly knew them"; "just missed being hit"; "had
           scarcely rung the bell when the door flew open"; "would
           have scarce arrived before she would have found some
           excuse to leave"- w.b.yeats syn: barely, hardly, just,
            scarcely
see also:
abundant barely hardly just scarcely 

[4] : Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

55 moby thesaurus words for "scarce":
   almost unheard-of, at a premium, barely, cheeseparing, chinchy,
   chintzy, curtailed, deficient, exiguous, failing, few, hardly,
   in short supply, inadequate, infrequent, insufficient, lacking,
   meager, miserly, niggardly, occasional, out of print,
   out of season, out of stock, piddling, poor, rare, scant, scanty,
   scarcely, scattered, scrimping, scrimpy, seldom, seldom met with,
   seldom seen, shortened, shy, skimping, skimpy, slim, slow, sparse,
   sporadic, spotty, sprinkled, stingy, thin, tight, truncated,
   uncommon, unfrequent, unique, unusual, wanting

Scarce >> S Words
Scarce, definition of term: Scarce
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