All 5 Uses

scarcity
in
Starship Troopers
(Auto-generated)

It is a potential utopia, and, with desirable real estate so scarce in this end of the Galaxy, it will not be left in the possession of primitive life forms that failed to make the grade.†
Chpt 11 *

scarce = in short supply OR barely or hardly (by a small margin)
I've forgotten what happened to the platoon's lieutenant but R & R is a routine time to detach an officer — theoretically after a relief has been sent to understudy him, but reliefs are always scarce.†
Chpt 13
The chronic scarcity of officers strongly affected my duties in Blackie's Blackguards.†
Chpt 13

scarcity = shortage (having an amount that is less than desired)
It's scarce.†
Chpt 13

scarce = in short supply OR barely or hardly (by a small margin)
The scarcity of officers got steadily worse as the war wore on, because the casualty rate is always highest among officers ...and the M. I. never commissions a man simply to fill vacancy.†
Chpt 13

scarcity = shortage (having an amount that is less than desired)

Definitions:

(1) (scarcity)
shortage (having an amount that is less than desired)
(2) (meaning too rare to warrant focus)
More rarely (and typically in classic literature), scarce can be short for scarcely or hardly or barely or by a small margin -- such as in "She was scarce ten years old," or "I scarce know why."