/ skeəs; NAmE skers/ adjective , adverb
■ adjective
( scar·cer , scar·cest ) if sth is scarce , there is not enough of it and it is only available in small quantities :
scarce resources
Details of the accident are scarce.
Food was becoming scarce.
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IDIOMS
- make yourself scarce
■ adverb
( literary ) only just; almost not :
I can scarce remember him.
••
WORD ORIGIN
Middle English (in the sense restricted in quantity or size , also mean ): from a shortening of Anglo-Norman escars , from a Romance word meaning plucked out, selected.