Synonyms & related words for scarce

Find synonyms, related words, and the definition of scarce — including scarcely, hardly, scanty, scant, rare, sparse. Dendril is a free visual thesaurus that shows them on an interactive map where stronger matches sit closer to the center — no signup, no ads.

Words related to scarce

Explore words related to scarce — words associated with it, words that go with it, and its nearest matches in meaning. Related words include scarceness, scarcer, scarcity, rarer, scantness, exiguity, scantiness, plentiful. Click any word to make it the center of the map and keep exploring the web of connections.

Synonyms for scarce

Common synonyms for scarce include scarcely, hardly, scanty, scant, rare, sparse, barely, insufficient — words that share a close meaning. Hover or tap any word on the map for its definition and part of speech.

Where does scarce come from?

The word scarce breaks down into one root of Vulgar Latin origin: the root scarce, from Vulgar Latin excarpsus (“picked out, plucked out; hence rare”). Explore each root to see other English words built from the same source.