Word.ws English Dictionary

scarcity

/ˈskɛəsɪti/US/ˈskɛɹsɪti/

scarcity noun: the condition of something being scarce or deficient.

Noun

scarcity (countable and uncountable, plural scarcities)

  1. (uncountable) The condition of something being scarce or deficient.
    • Praise […] owes its value only to its scarcity.July 6, 1751, Samuel Johnson, The Rambler No. 136
    • To understand the events of the next fifty years, then, one must understand environmental scarcity, cultural and racial clash, geographic destiny, and the transformation of war.1994 February, Robert D. Kaplan, “The Coming Anarchy”, in The Atlantic
    Synonyms:
    infrequency
  2. (countable) An inadequate amount of something; a shortage.
    • a scarcity of grain
    • The crucial and intersecting challenges of scarcities, both emerging and intensifying, will consume China’s custodians over the next decade.2013 September 24, Damien Ma, William Adams, “China's Next Great Challenge: Scarcity”, in The Atlantic
    Synonyms:
    dearth

scarcity meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali

scarcity in Hindi

the condition of something being scarce or deficient
दुर्लभता durlabhtā
an inadequate amount of something; a shortage
अल्पता alpatā

scarcity in Tamil

அருமை, கிடைப் பருமை, போதாமை, பற்றாக்குறை, அருமைப்பாடு, கிடைப்பருமை

scarcity in Urdu

فقدان, گرانی, کال, کمیابی, کمی, قلت

scarcity in Bengali

scarcity
দুর্ভিক্ষ durbhikkho
scarcity, famine
অকাল okal
More languagesFewer languages
scarcity in Telugu
కొరత korata
scarcity in Malayalam
ക്ഷാമം kṣāmaṁ, മുട്ട് muṭṭŭ
scarcity in Kannada
ಅಭಾವ, ಕೊರತೆ, ಸಾಕಷ್ಟಿಲ್ಲದಿರುವುದು, ವಿರಳತೆ
scarcity in Punjabi
ਮੰਦੇਰਾ manderā
scarcity in Tagalog
kauyakan

Examples of scarcity in a sentence

  • The quality and scarcity ensured that the product was eminently marketable.
  • Bergmeal was sometimes mixed into food during times of scarcity in Scandanavia.
  • In times of scarcity, wardens of the peace patrolled the city’s streets to deter the conforaneous vendors’ less scrupulous competition strategies.

All 30 example sentences with scarcity

Synonyms of scarcity

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of scarcity

Forms of scarcity

pluralscarcities

Plural of scarcity: scarcities

Origin of scarcity

Inherited from Middle English scarsite, from Old Northern French escarsete; by surface analysis, scarce + -ity.

Words formed from scarcity

Phrases with scarcity

Questions about scarcity

What does scarcity mean?
Scarcity means the condition of something being scarce or deficient.
What is scarcity in Hindi?
Scarcity in Hindi is दुर्लभता (durlabhtā), अल्पता (alpatā). See Scarcity meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is scarcity?
Scarcity is a noun.
How do you pronounce scarcity?
Scarcity is pronounced /ˈskɛɹsɪti/ (US).
What is the plural of scarcity?
The plural of scarcity is scarcities.

Words near scarcity in the dictionary

  1. scarcening
  2. scarcens
  3. scarcer
  4. scarcest
  5. scarcities
  6. scarcity
  7. Scarcliffe
  8. Scarcroft
  9. scard
  10. scardey cat
  11. Scardina

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: scarcity (page history and authors); scarcity (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); scarcity (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); অকাল (Bengali) (page history and authors); ക്ഷാമം (Malayalam) (page history and authors); scarcity (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਮੰਦੇਰਾ (Punjabi) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “scarcity.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/scarcity. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.