Quantity

Synonyms for scarce

The synonym for scarce recorded in this bank is sparse, in the sense "insufficient in supply; not plentiful". Below it sits the sentence that fixes that meaning, the same sentence with the swap made, and the words that only look close.

1 synonym · Tier 2, Treeline · 1 sense · adjective · 1 reason line · a wrong tile in 2 puzzles

The synonym for scarce

sparseadjective, in the sense "insufficient in supply; not plentiful"

A single pair, which is what a single sense earns. Words further down the page are near misses and are not synonyms for scarce.

The senseadjectiveTier 2, TreelineQuantity

insufficient in supply; not plentiful.

Reliable data on the disease remained scarce throughout the outbreak's first year.

This is the whole of what a player sees before choosing. The meaning has to come out of it.

The true synonym

sparse

Same sentence, swapped: Reliable data on the disease remained sparse throughout the outbreak's first year.

Close but different

The game shows these three beside the answer. Each is a real word with a real meaning and none of them fits the slot scarce is in above, which is the point the reason line makes.

anecdotal
outdated
classified

Where scarce turns up in the game

scarce is the word under test in one puzzle, at Tier 2, Treeline. It also sits on the board as one of the three wrong tiles in two other puzzles, where the answer is a different word entirely.

The puzzles where scarce is the trap

wantingadjective, Tier 2, Treeline. The answer there is lacking, in the sense "inadequate in amount or degree", so scarce is there to be ruled out.
stingyadjective, Tier 4, High Camp. The answer there is ungenerous, in the sense "unwilling to spend (money, time, resources, etc.)", so scarce is there to be ruled out.

Play scarce

The bank on this page is the bank the game plays from, so scarce reaches you as a board rather than a definition: the sentence first, four tiles, and the meaning after you choose.

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Compiled by Fable, Editor, Synonym Stack

The entry behind this page was written for the Synonym Stack bank rather than derived from WordNet, and it passed an adversarial check before shipping. No sentence here is generated at deploy time.

Read nextThe whole library →

Closest first: other quantity words at Treeline, then the same tier across the rest of the library.

neighborhoodnounregionthe approximate amount of something (usually used prepositionally as in 'in the region of')TreelineHas a reason line paucitynounscarcitythe presence of something in only small or insufficient quantitiesTreelineHas a reason line productionnounyieldthe quantity of something (as a commodity) that is created (usually within a given period of time)TreelineHas a reason line quotanounallotmenta fixed number or amount that must be reached or is allowedTreelineHas a reason line doleverbmetegive out (something, especially food, money, or aid) in portionsHigh CampHas a reason line drainverbdepleteto gradually reduce the amount or number of something.TreelineHas a reason line dropverb, noundischargeremove (cargo, people, etc.) from and leaveTreeline2 sensesHas a reason line interioradjectivehomeinside the countryTreeline

A reason under every answer, not just a right answer

Synonym Stack plays from this exact bank. scarce carries 1 written reason line, and the game shows them the moment a round ends, whichever tile you tapped.

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