scarce
only a very short time before
How often you will meet it
Rank 2,191 of 71,295 words measured. It occurs 8,033 times across 155,370 chapters — 0.004% of every word in the library.
What it means
adverb
- only a very short time before also: barely, hardly, just, scarcely we hardly knew themhad scarcely rung the bell when the door flew open
- almost not also: hardly, scarcely, barely he hardly ever goes fishinghe was scarce sixteen years old
adjective
- deficient in quantity or number compared with the demand fresh vegetables were scarce during the drought
scarce in real books
Each sentence below was written by a published author and is taken from a different book in our library. Open one to read the passage it came from, with narration.
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A lonely woman's life is scarce worth living.
The three sisters [Night watches, Part 6.] · W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs · Chapter 1
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But bears are scarce and timid, and appear only to a favored few.
In the Wilderness · Charles Dudley Warner · Chapter 1
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Well, Adam advances, smart in pace, But scarce by violets that advance you trace.
John Marr and Other Poems · Herman Melville · Chapter 1
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Books were both scarce and dear, the family Bible being, of course, the principal one.
From John O'Groats to Land's End · John Anderton Naylor · Chapter 1
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America scarce more than a half century ago was for the most part a land of query, rather than of hope.
The Purchase Price · Emerson Hough · Chapter 1