Both Uses of
scarcity
in
The Hunger Games
- When food is scarce, the Gamemakers will invite the players to a banquet, somewhere known to all like the Cornucopia, as an inducement to gather and fight.†
p. 244.2scarce = in short supply OR barely or hardly (by a small margin)
- With the scarcity of water, they may even have had to return to the lake for refills.†
p. 167.2 *
Definitions:
-
(1)
(scarcity) shortage (having an amount that is less than desired)
-
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) 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."