(n.) Rareness; deficiency; lack of plenty; short supply\; penury; as, a scarcity of grain; a great scarcity of beauties.

absence chinchiness chintziness dearth deficiency exiguity fewness inadequacy inadequateness infrequence infrequency insufficiency lack meagerness miserliness need occasionalness paucity poverty rareness rarity restrictedness scant scant sufficiency scantiness scarceness scrimpiness seldomness shortage skimpiness slowness smallness sparseness sparsity stinginess stringency thinness tightness uncommonness underage unfrequentness uniqueness unusualness want