WordWeb Online

1. Only a very short time before
   "would have scarce arrived before she would have found some excuse to leave"
   - barely, hardly, just, scarcely

1. Deficient in quantity or number compared with the demand
   "fresh vegetables were scarce during the drought"

Derived forms: scarcest, scarcer

See also: meager [N. Amer], meagerly [N. Amer], meagre [Brit, Cdn], meagrely [Brit, Cdn], quantity, rare, scarcely, scarceness, scrimpy, stingy, tight

Antonym: abundant

Encyclopedia: Scarce