All 3 Uses

scarcity
in
Angela's Ashes
(Auto-generated)

The smoking brought on Nora's cough and she told Mam the fags would kill her in the end, that there was a touch of consumption in her family and no one lived to a ripe old age, though who would want to in Limerick, a place where you could look around and the first thing you noticed was a scarcity of gray hairs, all the gray hairs either in the graveyard or across the Atlantic working on railroads or sauntering around in police uniforms.†
Chpt 2

scarcity = shortage (having an amount that is less than desired)
He tells her times are hard, jobs are scarce, and she says, Is it coddin' me you are?†
Chpt 12 *

scarce = in short supply OR barely or hardly (by a small margin)
I always offer The Abbot an apple but he won't eat it because of the scarcity of teeth in his head.†
Chpt 14

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."