scarce

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /skɛrs/ UK /skeəs/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

adj
insufficient in supply; rarely found

Clean water grew scarce as the drought wore on.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · insufficient in supply;... sparse scant rare meager insufficient deficient uncommon

Opposites

abundant plentiful ample common

Word family

Derived forms scarcelyscarcenessscarcity

Related forms scarcity scarcely

Appears in

Proverbs (1)

See all

Good men are scarce

Etymology

From Old North French scars ('scanty, sparing'), from Vulgar Latin *escarpsus, from *excarpere, an alteration of Latin excerpere ('to pluck out, select').

excerpere Latin carpere Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities

External links

# scarce

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /skɛrs/
**IPA (UK):** /skeəs/

## Meanings
1. insufficient in supply; rarely found

## Examples
- Clean water grew scarce as the drought wore on.

## Synonyms
- sparse
- scant
- rare
- meager
- insufficient
- deficient
- uncommon

## Antonyms
- abundant
- plentiful
- ample
- common

## Derived Forms
- scarcely
- scarceness
- scarcity

## Related Forms
- scarcity
- scarcely

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: excerpere
- Root: carpere

## Etymology
From Old North French scars ('scanty, sparing'), from Vulgar Latin *escarpsus, from *excarpere, an alteration of Latin excerpere ('to pluck out, select').

## AI Etymology
Scarce comes from Old North French scars ('scanty, sparing'), from Vulgar Latin *escarpsus, from *excarpere, an alteration of Latin excerpere ('to pluck out, select'). The historical trail runs through Latin excerpere and Latin carpere. In modern use it means insufficient in supply; rarely found. Derived formations include scarcely, scarceness, scarcity; related forms include scarcity, scarcely.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities

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