Adjective: scarce (scarcer,scarcest) skehrs
- Deficient in quantity or number compared with the demand
"fresh vegetables were scarce during the drought"
- Only a very short time before
"would have scarce arrived before she would have found some excuse to leave";
- barely, hardly, just, scarcely
- Almost not
"he was scarce sixteen years old";
- hardly, scarcely, barely
Derived forms: scarcer, scarcest
See also: meager [N. Amer], meagerly [N. Amer], meagre [Brit, Cdn], meagrely [Brit, Cdn], quantity, rare, scrimpy, stingy [informal], tight
Antonym: abundant
Encyclopedia: Scarce, Michael