as in shortage
a falling short of an essential or desirable amount or number
the scarcity of good restaurants around here is surprising
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of scarcity
Fine dining, as a genre, is premised on exclusivity and scarcity, the sense that money functions as a private code.
—
Hannah Goldfield, New Yorker, 20 Oct. 2025
Sanogo said that, when individuals do not have the resources to buy everyday essentials or discretionary luxuries, seeing others treat expensive items casually can create feelings of scarcity, which may lead to envy or resentment.
—Lydia Patrick, MSNBC Newsweek, 17 Oct. 2025
So in a world of abundance, scarcity holds the real value.
—Big Think, 16 Oct. 2025
But its popularity is not from its scarcity, rather from its (sometimes polarizing) aroma.
—Adam Hurly, Robb Report, 16 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for scarcity
Hannah Goldfield, New Yorker, 20 Oct. 2025
Sanogo said that, when individuals do not have the resources to buy everyday essentials or discretionary luxuries, seeing others treat expensive items casually can create feelings of scarcity, which may lead to envy or resentment.
—Lydia Patrick, MSNBC Newsweek, 17 Oct. 2025
So in a world of abundance, scarcity holds the real value.
—Big Think, 16 Oct. 2025
But its popularity is not from its scarcity, rather from its (sometimes polarizing) aroma.
—Adam Hurly, Robb Report, 16 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for scarcity
Recent Examples of Synonyms for scarcity
Noun
-
But as Kimmel shared with Danson, 77, things weren't easy in the beginning due to a shortage of star power.—
Brenton Blanchet,
PEOPLE,
22 Oct. 2025
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However, the number of foreign residents has risen sharply in recent years, reaching a record 3 percent of the population in 2024, as Tokyo cautiously loosened visa requirements for workers in key industries facing labor shortages amid a declining birth rate and aging workforce.—
Micah McCartney,
MSNBC Newsweek,
22 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
But the mob’s relative lack of visibility does not mean it’s gone away.—
Preston Fore,
Fortune,
25 Oct. 2025
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Barcelona used a mix of zonal and man-marking but struggled when teams exploited their comparalative lack of height and physicality by using players in motion.—
Anantaajith Raghuraman,
New York Times,
25 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Scarcity.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/scarcity. Accessed 29 Oct. 2025.
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