scarcity

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments  · 
“
The Pasha generally permits them to purchase corn from the Haouran, but in years when a scarcity is apprehended, a restriction is put upon them.

View all »
Definitions (7)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. noun Insufficiency of amount or supply; shortage: a scarcity of food that was caused by drought.
  2. noun Rarity of appearance or occurrence: antiques that are valued for their scarcity.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (4)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (40)

  • In times of scarcity, a slight word, either true or unfounded, suffices to create a terrible commotion. —  Biographies of Distinguished Scientific Men
  • Economics in Rothbard's wonderful book emerges as the beautiful logic of that underlies human action in a world of scarcity, the lens on how exchange makes it possible for people to cooperate toward their mutual betterment. —  Mises Dailies
  • "That scarcity was a myth that was used to keep people divided ..." —  reddit.com: what's new online!
  • "Also, economics in general is about scarcity -- that our resources are limited so we have to make choices, whether those resources are money or time or trees or water." —  News for Richmond Times-Dispatch
  • Violence has risen in line with scarcity, as clans-as well as sectarian and ethnic groupings-compete more fiercely over already-fast-diminishing resources, while the government's ability to buy support and balance groups against one other wanes rapidly. —  AME Info Latest News
More examples »
 

Tags

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

This word has been looked up 335 times.

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Add a related word »
Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Suggestions Wordniks Suggest

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (1)

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Middle English scarsitie, scarsete, scarsite, skarsete, from Old French escarsete, escarcete, escarcite, escharsete, escharcete, scharsete, parsimony, niggardliness, miserliness, meanness, deficiency, lack, = Italian scarcità, scarcity, light weight (cf. Italian scarsezza, Spanish escasez, scarcity); as scarce + -ity.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »
/ˈskɛrsəti/
by American Heritage

Charts
frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

You can expect to see this word about once a week.

Recently looked up

slit · fidgety · mucha · apropos · kukri

Recent Favorites

pygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms

Recent Pronunciations

silence · spell it rite · britney · bunda · settii