SYNONYMS AND RELATED EXPRESSIONS
scarcity
noun
A limited supply of something in relation to demand or need.
Local English device voice, when available. This is not a recorded dictionary pronunciation.
Insufficient supply
Closest synonyms
Related words and expressions
These extend or explain the idea and may require a different sentence structure.
Usage distinction
Return to topScarcity concerns supply relative to need or demand. Rarity concerns infrequency and does not necessarily indicate unmet demand.
CHECK THE MEANING IN CONTEXT
See scarcity in use
A scarcity of suitable rooms forced the organizers to revise the schedule.
An influx of new participants arrived at the neighborhood board-game evening after the library added it to the printed events list. The organizers checked the distribution of players across tables, finding that most had gathered around two familiar games. Scarcity arose at those tables because there were too few sets for the number of people who wanted them, even while other games sat unused.
Compare an alternative with the original word in each passage. Shared meanings do not make every pair interchangeable.
Synonym reference scope and sources
The groups distinguish the senses selected for this study entry. Closest synonyms and broader related expressions have separate labels. The listed sources support lexical selection; not every phrase is a direct quotation from a source.
How the synonym reference was prepared / WordNet 3.0 license