noun
definition
The condition of something being scarce or deficient
definition
An inadequate amount of something; a shortage
example
a scarcity of grain
Examples of scarcity in a Sentence
True scarcity is uncommon.
Through the resultant scarcity of labor, much land fell out of cultivation.
But in a world without scarcity, socialism can't even exist.
The first noticeable effect of the crisis was a great scarcity of employment.
Emigration has, however, recently assumed such proportions as to lead to scarcity of labor and rise of wages in Italy itself.
The scarcity of Welsh bibles was Charles's greatest difficulty in his work.
In the south they are rare, on account partly of the mountainous character of the country, and partly of the scarcity of traffic. All the important towns of Italy are provided with internal electric tramways, mostly with overhead wires.
The climate, though somewhat relaxing, is healthy, but there is a scarcity of drinking water, the average annual rainfall being only 272 in.
One of the reasons why central digesters have developed in Denmark is the scarcity of large cattle farms.
The food of the people in the midlands and south is plentiful and good; in the remoter parts of the north an unfavourable summer is followed by a winter of scarcity or even famine; and in these parts meat is little used.
The scarcity of bread was set down to conspirators against the Revolution.
The Mahi is the only river in the state and great scarcity of water occurs in the dry season.
Probably the main reason for the relative scarcity of birds was the lack of water on the island.
Shallow reaches are not uncommon, and there are at least seven considerable shoals in the south-western part of the course; partly owing to this cause, and partly to the scarcity of ship-timber in the Voronezh government, the Don, although navigable as far up as Voronezh, does not attain any great importance as a means of communication till it reaches Kachalinskaya in the vicinity of the Volga.
But in many areas, scarcity is so profound it has huge societal impact.
Even with such artificial scarcity, broadcasting licenses can be assigned by auction rather than by political discretion.
There is an increasing scarcity westward.
The wide heated plains of the Sahara, and in a lesser degree the corresponding zone of the Kalahari in the south, have an exceedingly scanty rainfall, the winds which blow over them from the ocean losing part of their moisture as they pass over the outer highlands, and becoming constantly drier owing to the heating effects of the burning soil of the interior; while the scarcity of mountain ranges in the more central parts likewise tends to prevent condensation.
Thus in times of scarcity, which are not infrequent during the early part of the season, they become a heavy tax upon the food-supply of the colony at the critical period when brood-rearing is accelerated by an abundance of stores, while shortness of food means a fallingoff in egg-production.
Moreover, socio-economic and class issues tend to get short shrift, reflecting a scarcity of research in this field.
It is untenable, then, to suggest that absolute scarcity propelled the events of 2003.
Future efforts at conflict prevention and resolution should take the role that environmental scarcity plays into account.
And yet we do have some experience with situations where scarcity is nonexistent.
We have a hard time seeing this world without scarcity because we are firmly planted in the worldview of scarcity.
E Here, as over so large a portion of the Australian region, we find birds constituting the supreme class - the scarcity of mammals being accounted for in some measure as a normal effect of insularity.
Among the later productions of his pen were, besides the Plan of a Reform in the Election of the House of Commons, pamphlets entitled Proceedings in the House of Commons on the Slave Trade (1796), Reflections on the Abundance of Paper in Circulation and the Scarcity of Specie (1810), Historical Questions Exhibited (1818), and a Letter to Earl Grey on the Policy of Great Britain and the Allies towards Norway (1814).
Click here for maps showing freshwater scarcity in Africa and the World at large.
The scarcity of animals, as well as the dearness of fodder, is one of the causes of the dearness of transport, and freights have risen on the most frequented roads from 3d.
In view of the increasing scarcity of landfill sites, the recycling of such materials is an important issue.
Through the resultant scarcity of labour, much land fell out of cultivation.
We essentially view scarcity like the children's game "musical chairs."
The notion of scarcity is so ingrained in us and so permeates the world today, it is difficult to imagine a world without it.
One great drawback on the property of Forfar is the scarcity of fuel.
Because of their scarcity, they are highly prized and extremely valuable; for example, the Hope diamond has an estimated value of between $200 and $250 million.
However, because of the scarcity of attention, most of them die very quickly.
Blogging sites have solved this scarcity of good names through the use of subdomains, but these don't really have the power of an actual full-fledged URL.
The legal expense for the maintenance of water rights was often large because of the interminable suits brought during the times of water scarcity.
Auriferous alluvial strata have been discovered in various localities, but everywhere the scarcity of water has been a bar to their being exploited with profit.
Wages for men employed in building, owing in part to scarcity of labour but chiefly to action of the labour unions, rose enormously, masons being paid $12 a day for a day of 8 hours.
Neither did the giraffe acquire its long neck by desiring to reach the foliage of more lofty shrubs, and constantly stretching its neck for the purpose, but because any varieties which occurred among its antitypes with a longer neck than usual at once secured a fresh range of pasture over the same ground as their shorter-necked companions, and on the first scarcity of food were thereby enabled to outlive them."
For the reception of his parishioners he had three tables well covered - one for gentlemen, the second for husbandmen, the third for day-labourers; and this piece of hospitality he never omitted, even when losses or scarcity made its continuance difficult.
Tripoli is quarried particularly in Newton county, where it has been produced since 1872, and though not produced in great quantities has value from its general scarcity.
Agriculture and Allied Industires.-Owing to the scarcity of water over a large part of the country the area of land under cultivation is restricted.
The growth in the preceding decade of the iron and steel industry, the products of which increased in value from $4,742,760 in 1890 to $19,338,481 in 1900 (307.7%), and of the manufacture of glass, the value of which increased from $2,995,409 in 1890 to $ 1 4,757, 88 3 in 1900 (392.7%), is directly attributable to the development of natural gas as fuel; the decrease in the value of the products of these same industries in1900-1905is partly due to the growing scarcity of the natural gas supply.
Of the European Jurassic (or Oolitic) mammals our knowledge is unfortunately very imperfect; and from the scarcity of their remains it is quite probable that they are merely stragglers from the region (possibly Africa) where the class was first differentiated.
Doubtless the merchants practised their religious ceremonies from the first, but their god Mercurius was not officially recognized by the state till the year 495 B.C. Rome frequently suffered from scarcity of grain during the unsettled times that followed the expulsion of the Tarquins.
In February and March heavy gales are frequent, and hurricanes sometimes occur, causing scarcity by destroying the crops.
The natives use no grain or pulse, but make a kind of bread (mandrai) from this, the taro, and other roots, as well as from the banana (which is the best), the bread-fruit, the ivi, the kavika, the arrowroot, and in times of scarcity the mangrove.
The Light Railways Act, passed by him in 1890, did much to open up some of the poorest parts of the west, and the temporary scarcity of that year was dealt with by relief works.
The proportion of sheep to other live-stock is lower than in most of the South Slavonic lands, and the scarcity of goats is also noteworthy.