Download the app
educalingo
Search
The poverty of our century is unlike that of any other. It is not, as poverty was before, the result of natural scarcity, but of a set of priorities imposed upon the rest of the world by the rich.
John Berger

Meaning of "scarcity" in the English dictionary

Dictionary
DICTIONARY
section

PRONUNCIATION OF SCARCITY

scarcity  [ˈskɛəsɪtɪ] play
facebooktwitterpinterestwhatsapp

GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF SCARCITY

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
Scarcity is a noun.
A noun is a type of word the meaning of which determines reality. Nouns provide the names for all things: people, objects, sensations, feelings, etc.

WHAT DOES SCARCITY MEAN IN ENGLISH?

Scarcity

Scarcity is the fundamental economic problem of having seemingly unlimited human wants in a world of limited resources. It states that society has insufficient productive resources to fulfill all human wants and needs. A common misconception on scarcity is that an item has to be important for it to be scarce. However, this is not true, for something to be scarce, it has to be hard to obtain, hard to create, or both. Simply put, the production cost of something determines if it is scarce or not. For example, although air is more important to us than diamonds, it is cheaper simply because the production cost of air is zero. Diamonds on the other hand have a high production cost. They have to be found and processed, both which require a lot of money. Additionally, scarcity implies that not all of society's goals can be pursued at the same time; trade-offs are made of one good against others. In an influential 1932 essay, Lionel Robbins defined economics as "the science which studies human behavior as a relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative uses." In biology, scarcity can refer to the uncommonness or rarity of certain species.

Definition of scarcity in the English dictionary

The definition of scarcity in the dictionary is inadequate supply; dearth; paucity. Other definition of scarcity is rarity or infrequent occurrence.

WORDS THAT RHYME WITH SCARCITY


authenticity
ˌɔːθɛnˈtɪsɪtɪ
biodiversity
ˌbaɪəʊdaɪˈvɜːsɪtɪ
capacity
kəˈpæsɪtɪ
city
ˈsɪtɪ
complexity
kəmˈplɛksɪtɪ
curiosity
ˌkjʊərɪˈɒsɪtɪ
density
ˈdɛnsɪtɪ
diversity
daɪˈvɜːsɪtɪ
electricity
ɪlɛkˈtrɪsɪtɪ
ethnicity
ɛθˈnɪsɪtɪ
generosity
ˌdʒɛnəˈrɒsɪtɪ
intensity
ɪnˈtɛnsɪtɪ
necessity
nɪˈsɛsɪtɪ
publicity
pʌˈblɪsɪtɪ
simplicity
sɪmˈplɪsɪtɪ
specificity
ˌspesɪˈfɪsɪtɪ
toxicity
tɒkˈsɪsɪtɪ
university
ˌjuːnɪˈvɜːsɪtɪ
varsity
ˈvɑːsɪtɪ
velocity
vɪˈlɒsɪtɪ

WORDS THAT BEGIN LIKE SCARCITY

scarabee
scaraboid
Scaramouch
scaramouche
Scarborough
scarce
scarce as hen´s teeth
scarcely
scarcement
scarcities
scarcity value
scare
scare quotes
scare story
scare tactics
scare the pants off
scarecrow
scared
scared to death
scaredy

WORDS THAT END LIKE SCARCITY

audacity
big city
capital city
cytotoxicity
elasticity
garden city
hydrophobicity
inner city
inner-city
Intercity
modulus of elasticity
multiplicity
opacity
plasticity
reciprocity
seating capacity
storage capacity
supercity
tenacity
veracity

Synonyms and antonyms of scarcity in the English dictionary of synonyms

SYNONYMS

SYNONYMS OF «SCARCITY»

The following words have a similar or identical meaning as «scarcity» and belong to the same grammatical category.
synonyms of scarcity

Translation of «scarcity» into 25 languages

TRANSLATOR
online translator

TRANSLATION OF SCARCITY

Find out the translation of scarcity to 25 languages with our English multilingual translator.
The translations of scarcity from English to other languages presented in this section have been obtained through automatic statistical translation; where the essential translation unit is the word «scarcity» in English.

Translator English - Chinese

缺乏
1,325 millions of speakers

Translator English - Spanish

escasez
570 millions of speakers

English

scarcity
510 millions of speakers

Translator English - Hindi

कमी
380 millions of speakers
ar

Translator English - Arabic

ندرة
280 millions of speakers

Translator English - Russian

дефицит
278 millions of speakers

Translator English - Portuguese

escassez
270 millions of speakers

Translator English - Bengali

ঘাটতি
260 millions of speakers

Translator English - French

pénurie
220 millions of speakers

Translator English - Malay

Kekurangan
190 millions of speakers

Translator English - German

Knappheit
180 millions of speakers

Translator English - Japanese

不足
130 millions of speakers

Translator English - Korean

부족
85 millions of speakers

Translator English - Javanese

Kekurangan
85 millions of speakers
vi

Translator English - Vietnamese

sự khan hiếm
80 millions of speakers

Translator English - Tamil

பற்றாக்குறை
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Marathi

टंचाई
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Turkish

kıtlık
70 millions of speakers

Translator English - Italian

scarsità
65 millions of speakers

Translator English - Polish

niedostatek
50 millions of speakers

Translator English - Ukrainian

дефіцит
40 millions of speakers

Translator English - Romanian

deficitul
30 millions of speakers
el

Translator English - Greek

σπανιότητα
15 millions of speakers
af

Translator English - Afrikaans

skaarsheid
14 millions of speakers
sv

Translator English - Swedish

knapphet
10 millions of speakers
no

Translator English - Norwegian

knapphet
5 millions of speakers

Trends of use of scarcity

TRENDS

TENDENCIES OF USE OF THE TERM «SCARCITY»

The term «scarcity» is quite widely used and occupies the 30.495 position in our list of most widely used terms in the English dictionary.
0
100%
FREQUENCY
Quite widely used
86
/100
The map shown above gives the frequency of use of the term «scarcity» in the different countries.
Principal search tendencies and common uses of scarcity
List of principal searches undertaken by users to access our English online dictionary and most widely used expressions with the word «scarcity».

FREQUENCY OF USE OF THE TERM «SCARCITY» OVER TIME

The graph expresses the annual evolution of the frequency of use of the word «scarcity» during the past 500 years. Its implementation is based on analysing how often the term «scarcity» appears in digitalised printed sources in English between the year 1500 and the present day.

Examples of use in the English literature, quotes and news about scarcity

EXAMPLES

10 QUOTES WITH «SCARCITY»

Famous quotes and sentences with the word scarcity.
1
Chris Anderson
Free is really, you know, the gift of Silicon Valley to the world. It's an economic force, it's a technical force. It's a deflationary force, if not handled right. It is abundance, as opposed to scarcity.
2
William Henry Ashley
It appears from Mr. Smith's account that there is no scarcity of buffalo as he penetrated the country.
3
Henry Walter Bates
Their elegant shape, showy colours, and slow, sailing mode of flight, make them very attractive objects, and their numbers are so great that they form quite a feature in the physiognomy of the forest, compensating for the scarcity of flowers.
4
John Berger
The poverty of our century is unlike that of any other. It is not, as poverty was before, the result of natural scarcity, but of a set of priorities imposed upon the rest of the world by the rich.
5
Kurt Bills
The reality is that we are all economists. We all deal with scarcity as we make choices and calculate how to ration various items and resources that we consume, produce and utilize.
6
Kurt Bills
Since scarcity is the basic economic problem, if it does not exist then there is no reason for my economics course. Devoting time to the study of how people use limited resources to fulfill unlimited wants and needs should help us to discover how to best utilize the resources we have at our disposal.
7
Truman Capote
A conversation is a dialogue, not a monologue. That's why there are so few good conversations: due to scarcity, two intelligent talkers seldom meet.
8
Peter Coyote
Money is a way of creating scarcity.
9
Wayne Dyer
There is no scarcity of opportunity to make a living at what you love; there's only scarcity of resolve to make it happen.
10
Esther Dyson
I think that the use of copyright is going to change dramatically. Part of it is economics. There is just going to be so much content out there - there's a scarcity of attention. Information consumes attention, and there's too much information.

10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «SCARCITY»

Discover the use of scarcity in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to scarcity and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.
1
Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much
The dynamics of scarcity reveal why dieters find it hard to resist temptation, why students and busy executives mismanage their time, and why sugarcane farmers are smarter after harvest than before.
Sendhil Mullainathan, Eldar Shafir, 2013
2
Scarcity: Why having too little means so much
The answer is scarcity. Read this book to learn the surprising ways in which scarcity affects us all', Richard Thaler, co-author of Nudge
Sendhil Mullainathan, Eldar Shafir, 2013
3
Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much
Scarcity will change the way you think about both the little everyday tasks and the big issues of global urgency.Sendhil Mullainathan is a Professor of Economics at Harvard, and a recipient of a MacArthur Foundation "genius grant".
Sendhil Mullainathan, 2013
4
The Last Oasis: Facing Water Scarcity
In The Last Oasis, Sandra Postel examines the economic, ecological and political factors affecting fresh water supply.
Sandra Postel, 1992
5
Post-Scarcity Anarchism
An inspiring vision of how a non-hierarchal, ecologically-minded and anti-capitalist society can equitably meet human needs.
Murray Bookchin, 2004
6
Scarcity
THE STORY: In a small town in Western Massachusetts, the Lawrence family struggles with poverty, boredom and lost potential.
Lucy Thurber, 2008
7
Environment, Scarcity, and Violence
Clearly written and forcefully argued, this book will become the standard work on the complex relationship between environmental scarcities and human violence.
Thomas F. Homer-Dixon, 2010
8
Coping with Water Scarcity: Addressing the Challenges
This book is a guide to the establishment of regional and/or local guidelines for developing and implementing new ideas for coping with water scarcity.
L. S. Pereira, Ian Cordery, Iacovos Iacovides, 2009
9
Scarcity and Frontiers: How Economies Have Developed Through ...
This book provides a fascinating account of the contribution that natural resource exploitation has made to economic development in key eras of world history.
Edward B. Barbier, 2010
10
Rethinking Money: How New Currencies Turn Scarcity Into ...
Argues that the world's current philosophies on money have caused the recent financial meltdowns of the United States and Europe, and argues that rethinking the concept of money as cooperative currencies would help solve many of these ...
Bernard A. Lietaer, Jacqui Dunne, 2013

10 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «SCARCITY»

Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term scarcity is used in the context of the following news items.
1
UN Agency Says Syrian Children Face Water Scarcity, Heat
The U.N. children's agency warned on Friday that millions of Syrian children face a "high risk" of disease due to the scarcity of clean water and the scorching ... «ABC News, Jul 15»
2
Capital Oil boss, Ifeanyi Ubah, pledges to help end fuel scarcity
Capital Oil and Gas Ltd on Sunday commenced the loading of 13 million litres of petrol from its depot in Apapa for distribution to the various states to reduce the ... «Premium Times, May 15»
3
Fuel Scarcity: Factional Labour Leader Warns Of Industrial Action
fuel scarcity As the scarcity of petrol lingers across Nigeria, a factional Deputy President of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Mr Issa Aremu, says workers ... «CHANNELS TELEVISION, May 15»
4
Fuel Scarcity: Abuja workers to stay at home from Monday
fuel-scarcity There may be total paralyses of economic and commercial activities in Abuja, the nation's federal capital territory, except there is an urgent ... «DailyPost Nigeria, May 15»
5
Fuel scarcity: Finance, Petroleum ministers shun Senate summons
Attempts by the Senate to deliver correspondence inviting the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and the ... «Daily Sun, May 15»
6
Senate directs its committee on Petroleum to investigate fuel scarcity
Abuja fuel scarcity_1 The Nigerian Senate today directed its committees on Petroleum Resources (Upstream and Downstream) to commence an investigation ... «DailyPost Nigeria, May 15»
7
Fuel scarcity may persist beyond May 29 – Major marketers
Major oil marketers and depot petroleum products marketers on Thursday said that the current fuel scarcity in the country might persist beyond May 29, if the ... «Premium Times, May 15»
8
Why Food Companies Should Be More Afraid Of Water Scarcity
America's biggest food production companies face a growing threat of water scarcity, according to a new report from Ceres, an environmental sustainability ... «NPR, May 15»
9
Corruption Responsible For Fuel Scarcity In Nigeria, Petroleum …
Corruption Responsible For Fuel Scarcity In Nigeria, Petroleum Marketers Association Says. "If the Federal Government finally takes the responsibility of ... «SaharaReporters.com, May 15»
10
Pains without end… Lagosians, others groan as fuel scarcity bites …
“I think the present and outgoing government has the lion share of the blame for this scarcity and should, therefore, proffer solution to disabuse the minds of ... «The Guardian Nigeria, May 15»

REFERENCE
« EDUCALINGO. Scarcity [online]. Available <https://educalingo.com/en/dic-en/scarcity>. Apr 2024 ».
Download the educalingo app
en
English dictionary
Discover all that is hidden in the words on
index
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z