Both Uses
scarcity
in
Island of the Blue Dolphins
(Auto-generated)
- I searched the ravines for several days before I found it, trees being very scarce on the Island of the Blue Dolphins.†
p. 53.2 *scarce = in short supply OR barely or hardly (by a small margin)
- The house took longer to build than the fence because it rained many days and because the wood which I needed was scarce.†
p. 71.5
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."