{
    "term": "scarce",
    "partOfSpeech": "adjective",
    "definitions": [
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "if something is scarce, there is not enough of it and it is only available in small quantities",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "**scarce resources**"
                },
                {
                    "text": "Details of the accident are scarce."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Food was becoming scarce."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Money was extremely scarce after the war."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Skilled workers were becoming increasingly scarce."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Butterflies are getting scarcer and scarcer in industrialized areas."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Land suitable for building on is scarce."
                }
            ],
            "collocations": {
                "verbs": ["be", "seem", "become"],
                "adverb": ["extremely", "fairly", "very"]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "to leave somewhere and stay away for a time in order to avoid an unpleasant situation",
            "labels": "(informal)",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "I could see he was annoyed so I made myself scarce."
                }
            ]
        }
    ],
    "pronunciations": {
        "uk": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/skeəs/",
                "audio": "sc/scarce/scarce__gb_1.mp3"
            }
        ],
        "us": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/skers/",
                "audio": "sc/scarce/scarce__us_1.mp3"
            }
        ]
    },
    "wordOrigin": "Middle English (in the sense ‘restricted in quantity or size’, also ‘mean’): from a shortening of Anglo-Norman escars, from a Romance word meaning ‘plucked out, selected’."
}