scarce

A scarce resource or item exists or is obtainable only in very small numbers relative to need, so that there is far less of it than most people would want.

• rare

  Rare emphasises infrequency or unusualness; scarce focuses on insufficient supply relative to demand. A rare stamp is hard to find because few exist; a scarce medicine is hard to obtain because demand exceeds supply.

• limited

  Limited is a broader term that can mean restricted by policy, rules, or capacity. Scarce implies a more natural or systemic shortage and usually carries a stronger sense of urgency.

• insufficient

  Insufficient stresses that the amount is not enough for a specific purpose. Scarce focuses on general availability rather than adequacy for a particular goal.

• sparse

  Sparse describes thin distribution over an area — e.g. sparse hair, sparse population. Scarce refers to total quantity, not how spread out something is.

• abundant

  Something abundant exists in large quantities — the opposite of scarce.

• plentiful

  Plentiful suggests there is more than enough of something, directly contrasting with scarce.

Almost not or only just; used especially in formal, literary, or poetic English before a verb to indicate that something happens to an extremely small degree or does not happen at all.

• scarcely

  Scarcely is the modern, all-register equivalent of the adverb scarce. Use scarcely in everyday writing and speech; reserve scarce for literary effect.

• hardly

  Hardly is the most common everyday word for 'almost not.' It is neutral in register and interchangeable with scarcely in most contexts.

• barely

  Barely emphasises that something exists only just above zero — 'barely enough', 'barely visible.' It carries a stronger sense of exact measurement at the lower limit.

• easily

  Easily suggests something happens without difficulty, the opposite of doing something 'scarce' (barely).

• amply

  Amply means more than enough, contrasting with the limited degree expressed by scarce as an adverb.