scarcity

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search

English

[edit]
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Etymology

[edit]

From Old Northern French escarcete; by surface analysis, scarce +‎ -ity.

Pronunciation

[edit]

Noun

[edit]

scarcity (countable and uncountable, plural scarcities)

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

Synonyms

[edit]

Antonyms

[edit]

Derived terms

[edit]

Translations

[edit]
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Anagrams

[edit]