scarcity

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈskɛɹsɪti/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈskɛəsɪti/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Noun

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

• (condition of something being scarce): infrequency, rareness, rarity; see also Thesaurus:rareness
• (inadequate amount of something): dearth, deficiency, lack, infrequency, penury, rareness, rarity, want; see also Thesaurus:lack

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “condition of something being scarce”): frequency, commonness; see also Thesaurus:commonness
• (antonym(s) of “inadequate amount of something”): abundance, copiousness; see also Thesaurus:excess

Derived terms

• artificial scarcity
• digital scarcity
• postscarcity
• root of scarcity

 

Translations

the condition of something being scarce or deficient

• Asturian: escasez f
• Bulgarian: липса (bg) f (lipsa), оскъдица (bg) f (oskǎdica)
• Catalan: escassetat (ca) f, escassedat (ca) f, escassesa f
• Czech: nedostatek (cs) m
• Dutch: schaarste (nl) c
• Esperanto: malabundo
• Finnish: vähyys (fi)
• French: manque (fr) m, rareté (fr) f
• Galician: escaseza f
• German: Mangel (de) m, Knappheit (de) f
• Greek: σπάνις (el) (spánis), έλλειψη (el) (élleipsi), στενότητα (el) f (stenótita)

  Ancient: σπάνις f (spánis)

• Italian: scarsità (it) f
• Latin: paucitās f
• Macedonian: ску́дност f (skúdnost), о́скудност f (óskudnost)
• Polish: niedostatek (pl) m
• Portuguese: escassez (pt) f
• Russian: нехва́тка (ru) f (nexvátka), ску́дость (ru) f (skúdostʹ), недоста́ток (ru) m (nedostátok)
• Scottish Gaelic: cion m, gainne f, gainnead m
• Spanish: escasez (es)
• Swahili: uchache (sw), uhaba (sw)
• Tagalog: kauyakan
• Telugu: కొరత (te) (korata)
• Ukrainian: неста́ча f (nestáča)
• Welsh: anamlder m

an inadequate amount of something; a shortage

• Bulgarian: недостиг (bg) m (nedostig)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 缺少 (zh) (quēshǎo)

• Czech: nedostatek (cs) m
• Dutch: tekort (nl)
• Finnish: pula (fi)
• French: pénurie (fr) f
• Galician: escaseza f
• Italian: scarsità (it) f
• Latin: inopia f
• Macedonian: недостаток m (nedostatok), недостиг m (nedostig)
• Maori: ngōuruuru
• Portuguese: escassez (pt) f, carestia (pt) f
• Russian: недоста́ток (ru) m (nedostátok), дефици́т (ru) m (deficít)
• Scottish Gaelic: cion m, gainne f, gainnead m
• Spanish: carestía (es) f
• Swahili: uchache (sw), uhaba (sw)
• Telugu: కొరత (te) (korata)
• Ukrainian: неста́ча f (nestáča)
• Welsh: prinder m, diffyg (cy) m

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

Translations to be checked

Anagrams

• city cars