scarce

/ˈskers/

Middle English scars, from Anglo-French eschars, escars narrow, stingy, deficient, from Vulgar Latin *excarpsus, literally, plucked out, past participle of Latin excerpere to pluck out

adjective

  1. deficient in quantity or number compared with the demand : not plentiful or abundant

  2. intentionally absent

infrequent uncommon scarce rare sporadic mean not common or abundant. infrequent implies occurrence at wide intervals in space or time. uncommon suggests a frequency below normal expectation.

adverb

  1. scarcely, hardly

scarce was independence half a century old, when a … split occurred

idiom

  1. to leave so as not to be seen in a certain place

You'd better make yourself scarce before my parents get home.