scarcity
nounUS /ˈskɛɹsɪti/ · UK /ˈskɛəsɪti/
Etymology Inherited from Middle English scarsite, from Old Northern French escarsete; by surface analysis, scarce + -ity.
1
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:
2
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
- infrequency, rareness, rarity, dearth, deficiency, lack, penury, want
- Antonyms
- frequency, commonness, abundance, copiousness
- Derived terms
- artificial scarcity, digital scarcity, postscarcity, root of scarcity