scarcity

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

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

• Audio (Southern England)

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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:

     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:

     The crucial and intersecting challenges of scarcities, both emerging and intensifying, will consume China’s custodians over the next decade.

• (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

• (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

• city cars