Main entry: scarce
Definition: deficient in quantity or number compared with the demand
Usage: fresh vegetables were scarce during the drought
Main entry: hardly, just, barely, scarce, scarcely
Definition: only a very short time before
Usage: they could barely hear the speaker; we hardly knew them; just missed being hit; had scarcely rung the bell when the door flew open; would have scarce arrived before she would have found some excuse to leave- W.B.Yeats